[1] Questioning “Gregorian Reform Art” (11th-12th c.): Challenges, Strategies, and New Approaches (two Sessions)
[2] Ecological Seeing I – Teaching Environmental Art History
Ecological Seeing II – New Research in Environmental Art History
[3] Pray and Play with Mary: From Processions and pilgrimages to
Performances
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[1] Questioning “Gregorian Reform Art” (11th-12th c.): Challenges, Strategies, and New Approaches (two Sessions)
From: Barbara Franzé, Lecturer, Universities of Neuchâtel and Lausanne and Gillian B. Elliott, Adjunct Professor, George Washington University
Deadline: 15 Sep 22
Sponsored by the Italian Art Society, www.italianartsociety.org

Since the early studies by Ernst Kitzinger and Hélène Toubert, art historians have interpreted the monumental decorative programs of Rome by placing formal inventiveness, new narrative strategies, and the intensification of figurative production of the reforming century in a causal relationship with the social issues of the Gregorian Reform movement. Even as research initiatives now consider a vast territory, from Northern Italy to France, the Iberian Peninsula, and the regions of Eastern Europe, the subject of “Gregorian Reform Art” remains controversial because skeptics continue to cast doubt on a systematic artistic reform agenda. The purpose of the two sessions is to free our discipline from the epistemological rut of the “all-encompassing reform agenda” or the “non-existent reform agenda” in which it is stuck, by proceeding on a case-by-case basis, through the examination of singular monuments. By analyzing iconography and its language, the art historian discovers the intentions expressed “hic et nunc” and reveals the issues presiding over the materialization of the decorations. By accumulating specific knowledge of individual monuments, the sessions aim to draw a more complete picture of a complex and changing phenomenon.

Session I. Rome and Northern Italy
For the first session we welcome papers about artistic programs in Rome, its surrounding area and northern Italy.

Session II. To the Boundaries
For the second session we wish to widen the debate to the “off-center” territories of the reform (Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, etc.) and the question of a universalist (i.e., Western European), character of the pontifical project.

Please submit proposals that consider, but are not limited to, the following possible topics:
• Individual monumental artistic programs in Italy
• Comparisons of a range of monuments
• Shifting definitions of “Gregorian Reform Art”
• Methodological approaches to political interpretation and artistic programs
• Hybrid spaces and meanings
• The artistic language of the reform
• Universal vs. local political agendas

Please submit abstracts of 200 words no later than September 15, 2022, to Barbara Franzé at barbara.franzeunil.ch and Gillian Elliott at gillianelliottgwu.edu

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[2] Ecological Seeing I – Teaching Environmental Art History
Ecological Seeing II – New Research in Environmental Art History
From: Danielle Joyner (Lawrence University), Nancy Thebaut (Skidmore College) & Benjamin C. Tilghman (Washington College & The Material Collective)
Deadline: 15 Sep 22
Sponsored by the Material Collective

The ongoing environmental crises facing our planet calls for action in every field. As teachers, medieval art historians can help their students make sense of the situation by exploring the ways people conceived of, saw, and interacted with the natural world in the Middle Ages. Sometimes, we might uncover habits of thought that persist into the present day; in other contexts, we might find that medieval people understood the natural world very differently from contemporary paradigms and in ways that can be instructive for us in the present. In the roundtable, Ecological Seeing I - Teaching Environmental Art History, participants will discuss their experiences building courses or individual class sessions around ecological topics, focusing on both challenges and successful strategies for helping students work with the material.

Ecological Seeing II - New Research in Environmental Art History is designed to address one particular challenge to teaching environmental art history: the relative dearth of secondary sources to support a course. There are only a few scholarly studies that take an ecocritical approach to medieval art, despite the expansion of the approach in other subfields of art history. We invite papers on any topic within medieval art that will help the field work towards a richer body of literature on the environmental art history of the Middle Ages.
Abstracts (300 words) due September 15 via the conference’s Confex system (https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call).

Questions? Please contact Nancy Thebaut at nthebautskidmore.edu
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[3]
From: Julie Kant
Date: Jul 26, 2022
Subject: CFP: Pray and Play with Mary: From Processions and pilgrimages to
Performances

Kalamazoo and Online, May 11–13, 2023
Deadline: Sep 13, 2022

This special session wishes to analyze the multiple sources and multimedia
of Marian processions and pilgrimages. The scientific importance of the
session lies in understanding how these devotional practices could be
perceived as a form of theatrical performance. The polysensoriality of
these ephemeral events encouraged liturgical unity outside the church.
Therefore, how did the civic environment interact and participate in these
religious rituals? And finally, how did processions and pilgrimages
contribute to developing an urban Marian cult by enhancing a deep local
cohesion?

The session will encourage an interdisciplinary approach. Liturgy, music,
drama, and visual arts were deeply interconnected with the expression of
Marian devotions. For this reason, these elements will be examined in
relation to processions and pilgrimages to understand the dramatization of
the Virgin’s cult. This multimedia approach provides the groundwork for
new perspectives on Medieval performance in general. Moreover, the analysis
of case studies will not only aim to highlight specific aspects and general
phenomena in Late Medieval Europe, but also to define identities and
devotees’ experiences in the reality of processional performance.

Scholars are invited to submit a 300-word abstract, excluding references.
Proposals should also include name, affiliation, email address, the title
of the presentation, 6 keywords, a selective bibliography, and a short CV.
Please send the documents to maryandthecity.imc2022gmail.com by September
13, 2022.