SCULPT2021 - Shaping Genealogies - 1st International Conference on Late 19th and early 20th century Sculpture

We have the pleasure of announcing the SCULPT2021 - Shaping Genealogies - 1st International Conference on Late 19th and early 20th century Sculpture. The conference is organized by CITAR in partnership with Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis (Direção-Geral do Património Cultural). The online event will take place at the School of Arts of Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto, Portugal), between 7th and 8th October 2021.

This conference marks the conclusion of GEO-SR project ‘Multidisciplinary approach to alteration, alterability and conservation of Soares dos Reis geomaterial sculpture: breaking boundaries in museum paradigms and creating value in changing societies through Cultural Heritage’, a Portuguese research project that aimed at revisiting the sculptural work of Soares dos Reis, one of the most distinguished 19th-century Portuguese sculptors.

European Museums store relevant collections of sculpture in plaster, stone, metal and many of these materials are not yet systematically studied. Hence, heritage professionals face huge lack of information regarding their material composition and technological features, conservation condition, musealization and storage conditions. Challenges become larger with the introduction of modern materials in the 20th century and regarding outdoors heritage and public art.
SCULPT 2021 aims to get a deeper knowledge into this reality and to promote a European network with institutions, museums and researchers.

The focus of the conference will be on the following topics:
- European sculpture produced in the 19th and early 20th century
- Art History and Iconography
- Material and Technical Studies /Heritage Science
- Preventive Conservation, Management and Sustainable Protocols
- Conservation and Restoration
- New challenges for Museums in 2021 – new ways of accessing heritage in institutions
- Digital Heritage and Digital Humanities
- Artistic and Practice-based Research

The call for papers is now open until 16th of May. For more information see the Conference website: https://artes.porto.ucp.pt/pt/sculpt2021

We invite you to submit your abstracts and to we would be most grateful if you could disseminate this information among your contacts and interested persons of your research units and professional links.