Contemporary Art / Classical Myth

Call for Abstracts: 9/30/2007

Due Date for Completed Papers: 9/30/2008

Ancient myth has always provided fertile ground for Western artists
and theorists of the visual. Yet art historians tend to associate
classical mythology with historical styles and only rarely with the
art of the present. Indeed, current writing on contemporary art is,
with few exceptions, curiously devoid of mythological content,
despite demonstrable interest in myth on the part of several
contemporary artists, ranging from earlier figures such as Louise
Bourgeois and Cy Twombly to more recent arrivals such as Gregory
Crewdson, Fred Wilson, Bill Viola, Ann Hamilton, and John Currin.
While some artists' work invokes the power of classical mythology
explicitly, as in an expressly narcissistic video by Patty Chang
(Fountain, 1999) or an Orpheus-inspired installation by Felix
Gonzales-Torres (Untitled (Orpheus, Twice), 1991), others gesture
toward myth in more subtle ways, as do for example, Gerhard Richter's
mirrored installations and paintings. Also of note is the
preoccupation with myth on the part of several twentieth-century
theorists and philosophers, all of whom have made a significant mark
on the discipline of art history: Theodore Adorno, Maurice Blanchot,
Hélène Cixous, Sigmund Freud, Herbert Marcuse, Jacques Lacan, Paul de
Man, Louis Marin, Gayatri Spivak, et al.

In light of these and other connections, this anthology aims to
explore (and to some extent establish) the multifaceted intersection
of contemporary art and classical myth. Essays addressing this topic
may concentrate on a single work or series as it relates to a
specific myth or on a single artist whose work seems driven by an
overarching agenda, for which a certain myth makes a particularly apt
metaphor. Essays that employ myth for the purpose of grappling with
dominant trends in contemporary art are also welcome, as are
mythologically inflected meditations on the concept of the visual art
object as theorized, deployed, and constructed within contemporary
art and culture. Essays may focus on traditional as well as new
media, and contributions may adopt strategies not limited to the
approaches outlined above.

Interested parties should send a 500-word abstract together with a
curriculum vitae and brief bio to Isabelle Wallace and/or Jennie
Hirsh by September 30, 2007. Completed essays of 5,000 words will be
due September 30, 2008. Initial inquiries are welcome.

Isabelle Loring Wallace
Assistant Professor, Contemporary Art and Theory
Department of Art History
Lamar Dodd School of Art
University of Georgia, Athens
Email: iwallaceuga.edu

Jennie Hirsh
Assistant Professor, Modern and Contemporary Art and Architecture
Department of Art History
Maryland Institute College of Art
Email: jhirshmica.edu