The Art History Graduate Students Association of Concordia University
announces its annual graduate symposium in Art History at Concordia
University, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Writing Between the Lines: Art and its Historians
March 27-28, 2009

CALL FOR PAPERS

Concordia University’s Art History Graduate Students Association invites
proposals for Writing Between the Lines: Art and its Historians, a two-day
graduate symposium that will investigate the roles, opportunities, and
quandaries of those involved in the writing of art history.

Taking as a starting point the idea that the author is present in the art
historical text – both literally, as the narrator of art’s story, and
figuratively, as a
culturally and historically-bound subject acting -behind’ the text ?
this symposium seeks to ask the following questions:
In what way do the culture, gender, or social
standing of the art historian inflect an understanding and recording of
the art discussed? Historically, how have certain prominent authors
influenced both the course of art history and the way it has been written?
What social, political, and economic determinations affect who writes art
history? Is the work of the art historian on the same plane as that of the
artist? Is self-reflexivity a necessary component of art historical
writing today? How is the idea of the art historian being transformed by
the increasing emphasis on visual culture and interdisciplinarity?

This symposium aims to consider figures from many disciplines as active
agents in the writing of art history, including curators, art critics,
conservators, public educators, artists, and scholars from other fields.
Papers that take the work of specific authors as objects of study are
welcome, as are papers engaging more generally with the conditions of art
historical writing. The symposium is, more importantly, an opportunity for
contributors to examine their own roles as authors of art history.

Potential topics may include, but are not restricted to:

- The biography/identity of the art historian
- The history of art as a history of authors
- The socio-political determinations of art historical writing
- The art historian as primary viewer of works of art
- The art historian as mediator of artistic practice
- The role of the art historian in defining the conceptual boundaries of
the discipline
- Art historical writing as a task for non-art historians
- The art historian as ambassador: cultural, political, institutional

English and French submissions from graduate students and emerging
scholars in all areas of art history as well as related disciplines are
welcome.
Presentations will be twenty minutes in length (or approximately 2,500
words),
and will be followed by a discussion period.

Please send a 300-word abstract, a short biographical note and all
relevant contact information
to ahgsa.concordiagmail.com by December 19, 2008.