[1] Quart, Issue 73: Art in Wrocław in the Modern Age.

Manuscript submission deadline: 20 May 2024
Publication: September 2024
Thematic Editor of the Issue: Dr Marcin Wisłocki
Submission Deadline: 20.05.2024

At the onset of modernity, Wrocław was one of Central Europe’s largest and most affluent metropolises, with its influence spreading beyond Silesia onto the neighbouring lands. While selected aspect of modern architecture and art in Wrocław have been addressed by multiple scholars over the recent decades, the research field is far from being thoroughly examined yet. The complexities inherent in the art of the period are related to comprehensive cultural, social and religious transformations, which have been fundamentally reinterpreted in recent studies.

The timeframe to be covered in Quart, issue 73, largely overlaps with Habsburg rule in Silesia. The artistic patronage of the time variously reflected the tensions between the urban elites, aspiring to manifest their independence and multifarious ambitions, and the territorial authorities and their functionaries, seeking to enforce their sovereign rights and domination in politics, culture, religion in efforts that intensified in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War. These pursuits were mirrored in artworks funded by various social groups: the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy and the clergy. Such artistic developments can be explored in terms of the creative reception of new artistic impulses from Italy, Germany and the Low Countries and also through the lens of new ideological movements and their impact on art. The religious context of artistic practices is another salient focus, given that from the 1520s onward, Wrocław was a site of important religious transformations related to the Lutheran reformation, the development of the Evangelical church, the rivalry of the Protestant city and the Catholic Dome Island and the re-Catholicisation after the Thirty Years’ War.

The third instalment of Quart in 2024 will seek to examine artistic developments in modern Wrocław in the possibly broadest context of the times. We invite contributions that address the following issues:
- the place and role of Wrocław’s artistic community and Wrocław-based artists in Central European art;
- the transfer channels of artistic ideas that shaped Wrocław’s architecture and art;
- the part that the patronage of various social groups (the bourgeoisie, the territorial authorities, the clergy and the aristocracy) had in the development of art in Wrocław;
- the ideological content and functions of artworks in conjunction with cultural, political, social and religious processes.

We also invite contributions offering comprehensive or problem-focused accounts of selected artistic developments, artists and their works, as well as studies on other issues related to the central thematic concern of the issue.

Manuscripts (in Polish or English, between 20.000 and 40.000 characters, with up to ten figures) should be formatted in accordance with Author Guidelines (available at https://quart.uni.wroc.pl/dla-autorow-autorek/) and e-mailed to quartuwr.edu.pl by 20 May 2024. The Editors reserve the right to make their own selection of the submissions. Each manuscript undergoes a double-blind review process.  

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[2] Quart, Issue 74: Representations in Knowledge Production.

Manuscript submission deadline: 20 June 2024
Publication: December 2024
Thematic editor of the issue: Dr Emilia Kiecko
Submission Deadline: 20.06.2024

Representations in the form of drawings, infographics, images, models, films and other visualisations seem almost indispensable in the production and transmission of knowledge. They give the impression of being universal tools that help objectively ‘embody’ any data and ideas and make those accessible. While ‘doing’ so, representations not infrequently seek to ‘camouflage’ their own interpretive nature by simulating the objectivity and transparency of their medium.

Knowledge-producing representations are at work not only in research or ‘professional’ discourses. They are also an integral part of visual culture as such and facilitate the consumption of science and scholarship. This makes a critical exploration of representations and the work they do a warranted and timely pursuit.

We invite papers addressing the following thematic concerns (including from a historical perspective):
- In what ways do representations contribute to the production of knowledge? What are their limitations and capacities in this respect (what should they be)? What are the relationships between representations and reality?
- What aesthetic aspects of representations affect our understanding of the world? What are the relationships between ‘scientific’ representations (e.g. infographics) and art?
- How do ‘research’ images collaborate with research language in presenting academic knowledge?
- In what ways does the medium of such representations influence their persuasive potential?
- What are (were) the ethical aspects of producing and employing ‘scientific’ representations?
- Historical ‘scientific’ representations as retraced and interpreted ex post. How does ‘new’ knowledge shape our image of ‘old’ knowledge?

Contributions to the issue are invited from historians of art, science and design and from philosophers interested in the epistemology of images.

Manuscripts (in Polish or English, between 20 000 and 40 000 characters, with up to ten figures) should be formatted in accordance with Author Guidelines (available at https://quart.uni.wroc.pl/dla-autorow-autorek/) and e-mailed to quartuwr.edu.pl by 20 June 2024. The Editors reserve the right to make their own selection of the submissions. Each manuscript undergoes a double-blind review process.