[1] Changing Viewpoints, Shifting Narratives: Tangled Stories of Renaissance Objects (1300-1600).

From: Serenella Sessini and Talitha Schepers
Date: Jul 30, 2023

The panel session will be held in person in Chicago.

The panel is organised by Serenella Sessini (V&A) and Talitha Schepers, Harvard Art Museum.

Museums and galleries across the world are facing numerous financial, ethical and practical challenges, and curators and collection managers are expected to use these opportunities to transform and adapt permanent collections and exhibition displays in order to cater to diverse audiences. The study of cross-cultural interactions during the so-called Renaissance period has led to the re-telling of narratives from more inclusive viewpoints by scholars and curators alike. By bringing stories of global encounters into the foreground, as well as analysing the circumstances that led to the acquisition of Renaissance objects, curators can engage in a more meaningful way with non-traditional audiences and local communities, while simultaneously emphasising the relevance of Renaissance collections in today’s world.

Our panel session will explore how curators can navigate the challenges of current curatorial practice, and how to facilitate meaningful interactions between Renaissance objects and audiences. We welcome proposals for papers that share examples of museum work that opens Renaissance collections to a wider public. We invite 15-minute papers that explore, but are not limited to, the following topics:

- Contemporary responses to Renaissance objects
- Decolonising/Decentering Renaissance collections (provenance and collecting history)
- Community engagement projects
- Educational programmes
- Use of modern technologies such as VR, AR, AI, immersive experiences, video games
- Foregrounding transcultural and transhistorical narratives

This session seeks to provide a platform to exchange ideas on how to reinterpret Renaissance collections. It also offers an opportunity for speakers to share personal experiences and insights into audience engagement.

Applications should be sent through the CAA portal at this link https://caa.confex.com/caa/2024/webprogrampreliminary/Session12717.html, including the title of the paper, a 250-word abstract, a short CV and contact details.

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[2] Photography in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

From: Sarah M. Miller
Date: Jul 30, 2023
Deadline: Aug 31, 2023

Photography Network sponsored session at CAA 2024: Photography in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Whither “photography” in the age of Artificial Intelligence? The medium has experienced many identity crises since the 1830s, but the current one may be its most urgent. Increasingly, AI can produce images that convincingly mimic the look of photographs and trade on photographic credibility—inducing fears of deepfake deceptions, challenging what constitutes photographic labor and artistry, provoking accusations of copyright and privacy violation in the training sets used for machine learning, and opening both exciting and troubling frontiers in human-technology collaboration. But most existentially, AI throws open the question: what is (now) a photograph?

This session invites scholars and artists to contemplate the status and identity of photography as we enter the era of ubiquitous artificial intelligence. Questions may include:
• How should we understand AI-generated images that look like, and are received as, camera-made photographs?
• Ought we to police a boundary between photography and AI, or revise photography’s ontology to encompass AI?
• Which methodological tools or case studies from the history of photography can aid us in navigating this new landscape?
• What concepts might we draw from contemporary art, media studies, and other fields to theorize the desires, possibilities, and dangers attending photographic AI?
• How do AI algorithms reinscribe/subvert cultural biases already established by, or in, photographs?
• What forms might a critical artistic/photographic practice take now, vis-a-vis AI’s social, ethical, and artistic implications?

Selected participants must be CAA members by February, 2024.

Send questions to Sarah M. Miller, Mills College at Northeastern University, sarahmiller3737me.com

Submit proposals via CAA website: https://caa.confex.com/caa/2024/webprogrampreliminary/meeting.html
Applicants should submit an abstract up to 250 words and a CV of 1-2 pages. Potential presenters will be notified if their submissions have been accepted by September 18th.