The City in Art

Location: Poland
Call for Papers Deadline: 2004-03-31

International conference, interdisciplinary
Venues: Institute of Art (IS PAN), Warsaw, Institute of Art History of the
Jagiellonian University, Cracow, September 2004 (2nd week)

In all societies which define themselves as being civil-ised the relationship
between the city and artistic creativity, complicated and ambiguous though it
may inevitably be, seems to have proved a typically symbiotic one. If broad
definitions of 'the city' and 'the arts' may be generally accepted as relevant
and significant to the human condition throughout time and space, it is
possible to pose a whole series of questions which might, if taken up in a
frank and serious enough manner, give rise to a debate concerning the
quintessence of cultural aspects in such 'civilisations'.

This conference is planned to take place in two coordinated stages: part one
in the modern, political capital and part two in the residential seat of the
mediaeval kings of Poland. As well as encouraging the participation of
researchers in a variety of fields, for whom the relationship between culture
and the urban environment has a key importance, this gathering is also aimed
at challenging art historians, alongside researchers in the visual arts, to
confront the city's influence (minimal, relative or all-pervading) in their
own specialisations. A conference organised under such a title is intended to
lend cause for a lively confrontation of knowledge, awareness and experience
in the urban environment between 'homegrown' participants and those taking
part from abroad.

Although a European bias is both foreseen and, considering the two venues,
somewhat inevitable, reference to and due consideration of urban culture in
the Moslem world, the Indian Subcontinent, Far East, Black Africa,
pre-conquest America etc. is also equally welcome.

As a necessary precondition of their being able to participate, the waiving of
accommodation costs for the duration of the conference, as well as of
travelling between Warsaw and Cracow, is planned for all visiting speakers.
While funds are inevitably meagre, arrangements should permit visiting guests
to discover something of the urban life and culture of the two host cities
(e.g. practising architects and conservators or architectural theoretics
acting as guides to various aspects or individual monuments/designs/projects
in relation to or isolated from their urban surroundings, etc.).

Peter Martyn,
Instytut Sztuki PAN,
ul. Dluga 26/28,
00-950 Warszawa,
Poland

Phone: (22) 831-32-71, ext. 236
Fax: (22) 831-31-49
Email: Peter Martyn peter.martynispan.pl
alt. bhsztukimercury.ci.uw.edu.pl