Information about an International Research Workshop

A research workshop of the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and the Chaim
Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy, with support from the
President and Rector, Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Beer
Sheva, titled: "Art as Historical Text", is organized by Avital Heyman,
Department of the Arts, BGU.
The workshop will be held in BGU on 14-16 May 2007.
On 17 May 2007 all workshop participants will attend the celebrations of
the Feast of the Ascension (both Catholic and Orthodox) on the Mount of
Olives.

Topics to be discussed: Pilgrimage and cultic practices in Jewish,
Christian, and Muslim societies; construction of cultic shrines; art and
historical, social, and liturgical reality (East and West).

Participants from the States: Mary Carruthers, New York University, Conrad
Rudolph, University of California, Riverside, Paula Gerson, Florida State
University, Elizabeth Valdez del Alamo, Montclair State University; from
Canada: Erica Cruikshank Dodd, University of Victoria; from Italy: Corinna
Bottiglieri, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Michele Bacci,
Università di Siena, Alessia Trivellone, Université de Nice; from Spain:
Manuel Castiñeiras González, MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya,
Barcelona, Francisco Singul, Xunta di Galicia; from Scotland: Debra Higgs
Strickland, University of Glasgow; from Israel, BGU: Katrin Kogman-Appel,
Ephraim Shoham-Steiner, Sara Offenberg, Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby, Margo
Strumza-Uzan, Daniel Unger, Nitzan Amitai-Preis; from Israel, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: Andreina Contessa, Rachel Milstein, Renana
Bartal-Cohen, Sharon Roubach, Galit Noga-Banai, Sarit Shalev-Eyni; from
Israel, Tel Aviv University: Avraham Ronen, Simona Cohen, Simha Goldin;
from Israel, Open University, Ra'anana: Ora Limor, Ram Ben-Shalom, Avriel
Bar-Levav; Yiska Harani, Independent Scholar, Housni Alkhateeb-Shehada,
Levinsky College of Education.

For information, contact: Avital Heyman: avital-hzahav.net.il

Art as Historical Text

Research Workshop of the Israel Science Foundation
Department of the Arts, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
In collaboration and with support from The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle
East Studies and Diplomacy
May 14-17, 2007
To be held at
The Marcus Family Campus
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva
Conference Hall Rotem ("Ulam Rotem"), Student Building

Monday, May 14, 2007

9:30-10:30
Opening
Greetings: Haim Finkelstein, Chair, Department of the Arts
Yoram Meital, Chair, The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and
Diplomacy

Introduction
Avital Heyman, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

11:00-12:30
Mapping the World
Chair: Mary Carruthers, New York University

Conrad Rudolph, University of California, Riverside
The Requirements for Salvation: Hugh of Saint-Victor, Abelard, and The
Mystic Ark
Andreina Contessa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
A Possible History: Exploring a Presumed Map of Theodulphe of Orleans
Corinna Bottiglieri, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"
Texts Becoming Images: the carmina figurata between Christian Symbolism
and Panegyrist Tradition in the Carolingian Empire

14:30-16:00
Shrines and Liturgy: East and West
Session sponsored by the Israel Association for Canadian Studies, made
possible by a grant from the Government of Canada through the Canadian
Personalities Exchange Program (CPEP)

Chair and Correspondent: Erica Cruikshank Dodd, University of Victoria

Michele Bacci, Università di Siena
Some Remarks on "Mixed" Shrines in the Levant during the Late Middle Ages
Yiska Harani, Independent Scholar
The Holy Light Ceremony and the Easter Pilgrimage to Jerusalem: Reflecting
and Molding of Identities
Sara Offenberg, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
The Deer Hunt in the Worms Mahzor: The Illustration of a Liturgical
Poem and Jewish-Christian Polemics

16:30-18:00
Art and History on the Crossroads
Session sponsored by the Israel Association for Canadian Studies, made
possible by a grant from the Government of Canada through the Canadian
Personalities Exchange Program (CPEP)

Chair: Paula Gerson, Florida State University

Simona Cohen, Tel Aviv University
Painted Chapels in the Mountains of Savoy: Artistic Documents on the
Crossroads
Erica Cruikshank Dodd, University of Victoria
Crusader Painting in the Levant
Avraham Ronen, Tel Aviv University
An Attempt on the Life of King Ferrante I of Aragon: its Depiction on
the Bronze Doors of the Castelnuovo [Naples] and its Meaning

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

9:30-11:00
Saints: Cult and History
Chair: Conrad Rudolph, University of California, Riverside

Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Saint Antoninus of Florence: Giambologna's San Salviati Reliefs
Daniel Unger, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
A Message to the King of France: A Political Interpretation of the St.
Petronilla Altarpiece in St. Peter's

11:30-13:00
Muslim Imagery: Historical Overview
Chair: Yoram Meital, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Rachel Milstein, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Portrait of the Muslim Ruler as the Image of his Time
Housni Alkhateeb-Shehada, Levinsky College of Education
Illustrated Medieval Treatises on Islamic Veterinary Medicine

15:00-16:30
Jewish Imagery: Historical Overview
Chair: Katrin Kogman-Appel, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Ephraim Shoham-Steiner, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
The Slaughter of the Innocents: Medieval Jewish Representations of
Pharaoh's Blood Bath, Texts and illustrations
Simha Goldin, Tel Aviv University
Visible Language, Prose, Liturgical Poems and Illustrations: Means of
Remembering and Commemoration in Medieval Jewish Communities
Ram Ben-Shalom, Open University, Ra'anana
Artistic Imagery in Jewish Medieval Exempla and Biblical Interpretations

17:00-18:30
Time and Liturgy
Chair: Michele Bacci, Università di Siena

Margo Strumza-Uzan, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
What has the Legend of the True Cross to do with Gender Issues?
Renana Bartal-Cohen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Pepys Apocalypse: A Case of Visual Translation
Elizabeth Valdez del Alamo, Montclair State University, New Jersey
The Ascension from Head to Toe

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

8:30-10:00
The Pilgrimage Roads Revisited
Chair: Elizabeth Valdez del Alamo, Montclair State University, New Jersey

Paula Gerson, Florida State University
Painting Romanesque Monumental Sculpture: Essential or Skeen-Deep?
Manuel Castiñeiras González, MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya,
Barcelona
Historical Context or Liturgical Background? The Making of Romanesque Portals
Stephen Lamia, Dowling College, Oakdale
Program or Pastiche: The Sculptural Enigma at the Tumba di Rotari

10:30-12:00
Heretics and Saints in the Christian Church
Chair: Simona Cohen, Tel Aviv University

Alessia Trivellone, Université de Nice
Heresy and the Iconography of Heretics in Medieval Europe (11th -13th
Centuries)
Debra Higgs Strickland, University of Glasgow
Christus contrarius: Antichrist, the Pope, and the Jews
Sharon Roubach, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Golden Twin Stars: Peter Damian and the Martyrs Pergentinus and Lauretinus

13:30-15:00
Mediterranean Convergences
Chair: Ora Limor, Open University, Ra'anana

Galit Noga-Banai, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Visual Contacts between Jewish Communities in the Diaspora and
Palestine during the Fourth Century
Avriel Bar-Levav, Open University, Ra'anana
Scenes of Death: Christian Images and Jewish Texts

15:30-17:00
Art, Society, and Collective Memory
Chair: Avital Heyman, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Sarit Shalev-Eyni, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Reality and Fantasy: Nobility in Jewish Context
Mary Carruthers, New York University
Thinking in Images: Invention, Memory, and Place
17:30 Beer Sheva - Jerusalem

Thursday, 17 May, 2007

Jerusalem: Mount of Olives
Attendance of all workshop's participants in the Catholic and Orthodox
celebration of the Feast of the Ascension