Seeing Through? The Materiality of Dioramas (1600-2010)

International Conference
1-2 December 2016
University of Bern
Room 304, Hauptgebäude, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012 Bern

Thursday December 1

9:30
Introduction
Noémie Etienne & Nadia Radwan, University of Bern

NATURE

Chair: Marie-Theres Stauffer, University of Geneva

10:00
Liliane Ehrhart, Princeton University
The Marquis de Sade’s Confrontation with Gaetano Zumbo’s The Plague, a Macabre 17th -Century Wax Diorama

10:40
Valérie Kobi, Bielefeld University
Nature Enclosed in a Box. Early Forms of Natural History Dioramas in 18th and 19th Century Europe

Coffee Break

11:40
Guillaume Legall, Paris IV
Aquatic Dioramas

12:20
Thierry Laugée, Paris IV
This Sculpture Underneath the Skin

13:00 - 14:30 Lunch Break

HISTORY

Chair: Nadia Radwan, University of Bern

14:30
Noémie Etienne, University of Bern
Native American Dioramas in New York, 1900

15:10
Jean-Roch Bouiller, MuCEM
Ecological Units by Georges-Henri Rivière, "La vie mode d'emploi"

Coffee Break

15:50
Sam Omans, NYU & Xenia Vytuleva, Columbia University
Soviet Dioramas at the Polar Museum, St Petersburg

16:30
Mercedes Volait, InVisu (CNRS/INHA)
A Cultural Invariant? On Historicist/Orientalist Installations in the Private Sphere and Beyond in France and the Middle East

18:00
Guided Tour of the dioramas at the Naturhistorisches Museum, Bern, by Stefan T. Hertwig, Head Curator of the Vertebrate Animals Department

Friday December 2

SPACE

Chair: Eva Troelenberg, Max Plank Institute, Florence

10:00
Francine Giese, University of Zurich
Rafael Contreras' Alhambra Models - the Creation of an Illusionistic Vision

10:40
Alexander Streitberger, Université Catholique de Louvain
Display Clash. The Diorama and/as Wunderkammer in Contemporary Art

Coffee Break

11:40
Veronica Peselmann, Freie Universität, Berlin
Film and Diorama in China: Cao Feis Post-Apokalyptic "La Town" (2014)

12:20
Florence Ostende, Barbican Art Gallery
The Myth of the Great Hall: The Challenge of Exhibiting Dioramas

13:00: Conclusive Discussion

Dioramas are at the crossroads of artistic, scientific and cultural practices. They bring together painters, sculptors, scientists, and collectors, thus providing an opportunity to reflect on the polyvalence of these actors and the definition of their expertise. In 1822, the painter and scientist Louis Daguerre coined the term "diorama" when describing his theater, the word diorama literally meaning "seeing through." However, dioramas are not merely images or displays: they are also physical objects made of multiple materials and composite and hybrid things, created through cultural interaction and physical encounter. Multiple hands as well as various visions are involved in the process of their creation. Dioramas therefore allow for the study of contact zones and material exchanges between private and public spheres, as well as transcultural interactions in a global context.

More info on: http://www.ikg.unibe.ch/
http://www.cgs.unibe.ch/
And: https://www.academia.edu/28444957