Call For Papers:

"Multiplying the Visual in the Nineteenth Century"

Columbia University, April 17-18, 2009

Deadline for Abstracts: November 30, 2008

The Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University is
pleased to announce an upcoming conference, "Multiplying the Visual in
the Nineteenth Century."

Nineteenth-century France - or more accurately, Paris - has long been
associated with an explosion of the visual. In the wake of the French
Revolution, a combination of complex political, economic, social and
cultural forces initiated an acceleration and multiplication of visual
production and consumption. Crucial for this emerging culture of the
visual was a shift from craft-based production to an industrial model of
image-making centered on seriality and repetition. The fraught
relationship between the rise of mass-reproduction and the formation of
the modern institution of the museum, as well as the often contrary
demands of the market, produced an unprecedented anxiety over issues of
authenticity and originality. Perception itself increasingly unfolded in
a murky atmosphere of proliferating copies, imitations, counterfeits and
simulacra. For the nineteenth-century observer, modernity meant the
traversal of these endlessly mirrored halls. This event will provide a
timely reflection upon and reconsideration of modern theorizations of
reproduction, from the suggestive and influential writings of Walter
Benjamin to the more recent interventions of historians such as Stephen
Bann.

One goal of this event is to provide a venue in which graduate students
can closely interact with more established members of the academic
community. To that end, the conference will take place in two parts.
First, four invited professors will present papers related to our theme.
These speakers will raise broad questions that will be debated
throughout the remainder of the conference. We are pleased to announce
that the speakers are:

Keynote Address:
Eduardo Cadava, English Department, Princeton University
Jonathan Crary, Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University
Peter Geimer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich
Jennifer Roberts, History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University

In the second half of the proceedings, our topic will be explored in
relation to specific historical examples in six small-group seminars.
These seminars will allow graduate students to present their work and
create an opportunity for discussion of specific themes within the topic
of nineteenth-century vision and multiplicity. In each of these
seminars, two graduate students will present research on a panel
moderated by a Columbia faculty member and attended by the invited
speakers from our morning sessions. Seminars will run simultaneously,
and conference participants will be given a choice of which to attend
when registering.

We are now inviting submissions for graduate student papers for these
seminars. Individual seminar themes will be decided after all the
proposals have been received. Topics could include, but are not limited
to:

the status and definition of the "copy" (imitation, citation,
replication, reproduction)
law and copyright
mass-reproduction
dislocation and reproduction
internationalism
mimesis/realism
relationships among media
reproducing science
multiplying architecture; reproduction and pre-fabrication

The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2008. An abstract of no
more than 500 words, along with the applicant's current C.V., should be
sent to: multiplyingthevisualgmail.com.

The website for the conference can be accessed at:

www.learn.columbia.edu/multiplyingthevisual