ART, DESIGN & SOCIETY
Comité International d'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA) India Colloquium 2018

Art and design are intrinsic to all forms with aesthetic value. In the modern world, the dichotomy between art and design was created by the socio-political and economic changes that were brought about by the industrial revolution and colonization. This has led to the paradoxical paradigm wherein the utilitarian designs of the past are perceived as art in the present and are displayed in museum spaces.

In countries like India, art institutions are products of colonialism which aimed at instilling western values leading to the collapse of traditional structures of art creation, dissemination and consumption. The living traditions of indigenous, popular and ritual art which formed the major corpus of artistic production in societies worldwide went unnoticed in the grand narratives. This led to the exclusion of a vast array of tangibles and intangibles that engendered incomplete perceptions of the past across the world.

This colloquium aims at bringing together the smaller narratives that have often been overlooked but which are nonetheless important parts of the tapestry of humanity. It has also become imperative that we re-examine the notions of art and design to understand the essence of the creative process across various cultures and encourage discussion and discourse on their interface and intersection with society. The colloquium particularly intends to probe the role of categorization and enquire into the very frameworks within which art & design operate.

Against this background, the colloquium would like to call for papers under the following topics:

Design of the Past: Art of the Present
Synthesizing the Sacred and the Secular
Art & Design: Expressions of Conflict and Synthesis in Society
Utility to Frivolity
Space, Design & Art
Power, Politics & Propaganda
Sustainability: Practice and Production
Vision, Perception and Interpretation
Signs & Symbolism in Art & Design
Prevailing Over Prejudice: Untold Stories
Interpreting the Intangible Through the Tangible
Impacting Society: Social & Digital Media
Harmonizing the Individual and the Collective
Art History: The Melting Pot
We invite paper presentations of 20 minutes.

Please send a title of your proposed paper, an abstract of between 300 and 350 words. Please write the word “Abstract” in the subject line of your e-mail. Submissions must be sent to cihaindia2018gmail.com

Closing date for the first call for papers: Monday, 7th May 2018

Kindly note that participation in the colloquium will only be confirmed after receipt of payment of registration fee.

CONVENERS:

Prof. (Dr.) Anupa Pande
Professor & Head, Department of History of Art
Director & Pro-Vice-Chancellor, National Museum Institute

Dr. Savita Kumari
Assistant Professor, Department of History of Art
National Museum Institute