Re/presenting the Body: Between Art and Science
AAH Summer Symposium 2017
6-7 July 2017 – The University of Glasgow

Call for Papers
(Deadline: 16 April 2017)

The representation of the human body has been a central concern for artists and scientists across cultures. It has been, and continues to be, a source of interest, inspiration, investigation and experimentation. This Summer Symposium aims to contribute to this fascinating area of academic interest by adding its own art historical exploration to the conversation.

From anatomical interest to abstract manifestations, the body persists in being a source of physical and conceptual interest. The representation of the body has attracted a renewed interest in recent decades in correspondence with the latest scientific and technological developments in areas such as computer science, genetic engineering and digital image processing. Historically and politically fraught, the body has often become an intersectional point for science, art, philosophy and a wide range of artistic and scientific practices inform the way we imagine and visualise the body, and subsequently have represented it in art.

How have varying cultural, religious and political theories, material practices and technological developments changed the way in which we imagine and represent the body? What are the continuities and discontinuities between contemporary art practices, discourses and technologies and the visual cultures of the body of the pre-modern and modern period?

Re/presenting the Body welcomes contributions from all periods that address the theme of Re/Presenting the Body between Art and Science. Topics may include but are not limited to:

- Historiographical explorations of the intersections between anatomy and the arts
- The influence of scientific methodologies and discourses on artistic practices and modes of representing the body
- Collecting 'the body' as both art practice and scientific interest
- Representations, categorisation and display of the body in museums
- The relationship between art, the body, and socio-political discourses
- The intersection between art and technological devices for the visualisation of the body
- Explorations of historical and contemporary artistic body modification practices
- Bioart practices, its histories and ethics.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words for 20-minute papers should be submitted along with a 100-word biographical note to aahrepresentingthebodygmail.com by 16 April 2017.

Although the conference is open to all, speakers must be AAH members. To access regularly updated information on please visit: aah.org.uk/events/summer-symposium

The Summer Symposium is organised by Alicia Hughes, Isobel MacDonald, Rosalinda Quintieri and Naomi Stewart.