International conference

The Secret Lives of Artworks:
Exploring the Boundaries between Art and Life

Leiden University, 24 - 26 June, 2010

To mark the completion of the research program 'Art, Agency, and Living
Presence in Early Modern Italy', funded by the the Netherlands
Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and under the direction of
Professor Caroline van Eck, a conference will be organized at Leiden
University from 24 to 26 June.

Throughout history, and all over the world, people respond to images as
if they are alive: they say that they move, speak or look at the
beholder. Paintings are addressed, touched, kissed and embraced, beaten
or destroyed. Statues are treated as if they are the living being they
represent; buildings are given food and drink, and reported to move,
speak, bleed or look at the beholder. Such responses are not limited to
non-Western or so-called 'primitive' societies. What is more, such
responses seem clearly based on a ontological confusion: images are not
alive, and if they move, speak or weep it is because there is a hidden
mechanism at work. Yet, they are so constant and widespread, that we
cannot simply dismiss them as confusions, primitive reactions to art,
critical hyperbole or cliché. Indeed, rather than simply dismissing them
on such grounds, we propose to take these responses more seriously.

The aim of the conference is to examine such responses and to discuss
new ways in which they can be studied. Though taking as a point of
departure the art and culture of early modern Europe, contributions will
address a variety of related topics.

Confirmed speakers are:
Lina Bolzoni (Pisa), Jan Bremmer (Groningen), Frédéric Cousinié (Paris),
Ralph Dekoninck (Louvain), Maarten Delbeke (Ghent/Leiden), Claire Farago
(Boulder), Frank Fehrenbach (Harvard), Iain Fenlon (Cambridge), Jason
Gaiger (Open Univ., UK), Christine Göttler (Bern), Fredrika Jacobs
(Richmond, VA), Robin Osborne (Cambridge), Alina Payne (Harvard),
Matthew Rampley (Middlesbrough), Sebastian Schütze (Vienna), Peter
Stewart (London), Arno Witte (Amsterdam), Joanna Woodall (London). Also
the participants in the project will present their work.

The conference fee for three days is ¤ 100,- and ¤ 30,- for students or
PhD candidates. Participation is free for speakers and members of the
Huizinga Institute and the Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History.

A detailed programme is to be announced. For further information and
registration, please check our website at
www.hum.leiden.edu/research/artandagency/conference or contact either
Elsje van Kessel (e.van.kesselhum.leidenuniv.nl) or Joris van Gastel
(j.j.van.gastelhum.leidenuniv.nl).