Museums and museum history in the age of digital reproduction.
New challenges for the art of exhibiting and collecting.

International Forum of Young Art Historians.
China Academy of Art (CAA), Hangzhou, 16-21 September 2024.

In the age of digital reproduction, art and cultural history collections are facing new challenges. While reproductions can democratize access to artworks, they lack the authenticity of the original, which can compromise the aesthetic experience for visitors. Questions about original and copy, questions about appropriate displays and enlightening museum education, questions about the historical, social, ethical and legal conditions of museum collections in the past, present and future must be asked anew. The traditional task of museums to preserve and research art and cultural assets is also changing with regard to restitution efforts for works transferred worldwide.

The Advanced School of Art and Humanities of the CAA in Hangzhou is organizing its International Forum of Young Art Historians 2024 on the topic of these new challenges of collecting and presenting artworks and other cultural artefacts in museums and on related art historical research. It will focus on case studies of newer forms of museum concepts as well as new methods of academic research into museum concepts, both historical and contemporary, and general museum policy and collection history in a global world.

The forum will take the form of a workshop with papers by all participants as well as excursions to museums in Hangzhou and the surrounding area. Applications are invited from doctoral and post-doctoral students from all over the world as well as museum curators at the beginning of their careers. Candidates from the Global South and the so-called emerging countries are expressly encouraged to apply. The travel and accommodation costs of the participants will be covered by the CAA. The working language of the forum is English.

Please send applications with an abstract of the planned paper presentations (45 minutes) on current research projects (maximum 1 page), CV and a letter of recommendation from a university teacher by 15 July 2024 by email to Prof. Dr. Uwe Fleckner (uwe.fleckneruni-hamburg.de) and Prof. Dr. Fan Baiding (fanbdcaa.edu.cn).