Dear Colleagues:

I would like to announce a call for abstracts to participate in a panel
entitled, "Art and Visual Perception at 50," to be held at the meeting of
the College Art Association (www.collegeart.org) in February 2004.

The abstracts are due May 12, 2003 and may be sent to

Ian Verstegen
(Ursinus College)
p.o.box 1000
Collegeville, PA 19426.

They should accompany a College Art Association proposal form.

Thank you,
Ian Verstegen

"Art and Visual Perception at 50"

In 2004 the classic Art and Visual Perception reaches its 50th anniversary,
and its author, Rudolf Arnheim, celebrates his 100th birthday. While
popular with artists and educators, Arnheim has suffered in the postmodern
climate as a seemingly naïve realist with belief in the nobility of artistic
form.

However, the tides are shifting. Common-sense realism is being taken
seriously in the "post-theory" movement, beauty is once again being
discussed by philosophers, and there is a halting reassessment of formalism.
Perhaps Arnheim's gestaltism, based on a sophisticated relationalism,
possesses some of the complexity necessary to address so-called
'contintental' concerns. The search for overcome stability, the over-ridden
center, was pronounced by Arnheim an impossibility. Instead of a
reactionary claim, this wise counsel may be the source of a fruitful
reassessment of Arnheim's theories.

Papers that reconsider Arnheim's work through current artistic practice,
theorizing of visual culture and art historical methodology, and the
reconciliation of modern and post-modern ideology in general are especially
welcome.