Society for the History of Collecting, CAA Affiliated Session
CFP: Interpreting/ Re-interpreting Collections

Co-Chairs: Rebecca Lyons (Royal Academy of Arts), and Dr Marie Tavinor (Royal Academy of Arts)
Respondent: Dr Véronique Chagnon-Burke, Independent Scholar

This panel seeks to open a discussion on interpreting/ re-interpreting collections building up on a number of prominent recent changes observed (for example at the Frick Madison, at MoMA with the redisplay of its collections, or at the Wallace Collection which now allows temporary loans).
Collections are not static: indeed, in the same way as they may evolve, their founding documents, contents, relevance and significance may be examined with different lenses which themselves may vary in time and space. This may be true of both private and public collections located in any part of the world.
We encourage papers that examine critically both historical and contemporary occurrences of such shifts in interpretation. These revisions might come from artists, art critics, communities, scholars, benefactors, public opinion, experts or trustees. Analyses should particularly highlight nodes of interpretation, and causes for re-interpretation (i.e., changes of taste, context, legal framework, among others), as well as the consequences that such re-interpretations may have over the collections.

Guidelines to submit a proposal:
Please send your proposal by 28 August 2022 to Marie Tavinor c/o sochistcollgmail.com with the subject line: “CAA 2023 – Interpreting/Re-Interpreting Collections – Paper Proposal”. Applicants will be notified by mid-September 2022.

Proposals should contain:
• Abstract of no more than 250 words describing the scope and methodology of the paper;
• Short biography of no more than 200 words;
• CAA member ID;
• Contact information including address, phone, email, affiliation (if applicable).