Call for Papers

PART13: Higher Power/Lower Power: Art and Religion

[I]n divine love the freezing gleam of a sadistic skeleton is infinitely
unveiled. Revolt-its face distorted by amorous ecstasy-tears from God his
naïve mask, and thus oppression collapses in the crash of time. Catastrophe
is that by which a nocturnal horizon is set ablaze, that for which lacerated
existence goes into a trance-it is the Revolution-it is time released fro m
all bonds; it is pure change; it is a skeleton that emerges from its cadaver
as from a cocoon and that sadistically lives the unreal existence of death.
-Georges Bataille, "Sacrifices"

Art has traditionally been inseparable from religion; Western art in the
past few hundred years has been the anomaly. Although the role of religion
in the modern era has by no means been ignored, there remain numerous
avenues of investigation yet to be explored. While the hyperbolically
optimistic, transcendental, quasi-religious visions of Piet Mondrian and
Wassily Kandinsky are well known, Bataille's formulation cited above
suggests other, less well-traveled lines of research, such as the grimmer
side of modernist rupture and upheaval. This would comprise not just
modernity's tendency towards death and destruction but what Bataille sees,
in primitivizing terms, as a paradoxical temporal regression: in what is to
be a world "beyond" religion, one finds persistence, via fascism and
capitalism alike , of religious economies of sacrifice. This, of course, is
just one case among many. We might also consider religion's hand, in all
eras, in the development of hybrid forms, the conflation of art and
sociopolitical movements, and the prolongation of the tradition of
state-sponsored religious art and architecture.

Our aim for this issue of PART would be a collection of heterogeneous
studies from a variety of different geographical and temporal contexts,
exploring any dimension of the historical interrelations between religion
and art, visual culture, or architecture. We are interested in historical
studies as well as creative texts for our "Practice" section and criticism
of contemporary art. Submissions should be no longer than twenty-five
double-spaced pages. Please email submissions to koyaanisquilesgmail.com or
dsingsengc.cuny.edu by November 30, 2007.

PART12 is online: http://dsc.gc.cuny.edu/part/.

PART is also currently assembling a blog for upcoming exhibitions and
symposia. If you are organizing or are aware of any events in the coming
academic year, please send posts to dsingsenhotmail.com.