The "Methodology Seminars for Art History" in Ukraine is a two-year scholarly initiative committed to rethinking methodological approaches and future directions of art history within Ukraine. The project is realized with the support of the Getty Foundation, as a part of the Connecting Art Histories program, by the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome and the Max Weber Foundation’s Research Centre Ukraine.

It arises from a recognition of the structural and institutional discontinuities, which continue to shape the academic field in Ukraine today. At the same time, the ongoing Russian military aggression and broader processes of political transformation have intensified the need to preserve cultural heritage, reevaluate dominant narratives, and develop new interpretative tools that are responsive to the complexities of Ukraine’s historical and contemporary experiences. While more traditional methodological frameworks — such as connoisseurship, formalism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, and semiotics — remain well-integrated within Ukrainian art historical research, the seminars delve into more recent approaches, which are less established in Ukraine. Rather than imposing a single theoretical model, the seminars encourage pluralism, experimentation, and transhistorical inquiry. It draws on a wide range of methodological perspectives, including horizontal models of art historiography, material histories, and posthumanism, while also integrating more interdisciplinary theoretical tools of visual culture, anthropology, and decolonial studies.

The seminars are designed as a platform for early-career researchers from Ukraine to take part in critical, collaborative, and practice-oriented reflection on art historical methodology. It aims to cultivate a deeper awareness of how knowledge is produced, transmitted, and framed — and to explore how disciplinary practices might be reconfigured in light of both local contexts and global shifts in the humanities. Participants are invited to situate their research within a broader intellectual landscape, share their work in progress, and build lasting connections with peers and mentors.

Two seminars (July-October 2025, and spring 2026) will be held in hybrid formats, with blocks of deep-reading webinars, and the residency part in Lviv, during which the participants will present their research. Senior Experts from the international institutions will both engage with the participants in peer-to-peer discussions and join the onsite program.

Senior Experts:
- PD Dr Mateusz Kapustka, Institute of Art History, University of Zurich
- Dr Olenka Pevny, Associate Professor in Ukrainian Studies and in Medieval and Early Modern Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge
- Edit András Ph.D., Dr.h.c., independent scholar, senior member of the HUN-REN, Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Art History, Budapest
- Prof Dr. David Crowley, National College of Art and Design, Dublin
- Dr phil. Seraina Renz, RE:CENT Center for Medieval Visual Cultures and Research Communication, Masaryk University, Brno

Advisory Board:
- Dr Bohdan Shumylovych, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, Ukrainian Catholic University
- Dr Stefaniia Demchuk, Associate Professor, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
- Oksana Barshynova, Deputy Director of the National Art Museum of Ukraine

By centering Ukrainian voices and fostering international collaboration, the seminars seek to contribute to the development of a more self-reflexive, inclusive, and interconnected art historical field. It is also a response to the urgent need for sustainable academic support — not only for individual researchers, but for structural renewal of art history as a critical discipline due to Ukraine’s shifting cultural and geopolitical environment.

Structure:
The first iteration of the Seminars, titled "Methodology and Ideology", will bring together 12 Ukrainian early-career scholars working in art history or related fields. At the application stage, candidates will be asked to submit an abstract of a research topic connected with art history/art theory and visual culture they are currently pursuing or plan to develop (e.g., a scholarly article, monograph chapter, or dissertation section). There are no geographical or chronological limitations on topics; we welcome a wide range of proposals.

The initial phase of the first Seminar will take place online from late July to September 2025. During this period, participants will work together during eight webinars focused on theoretical readings curated by the organizing team, while concurrently developing their individual research projects. In September, each participant will receive personalized feedback on their work during a one-on-one session with an invited senior international expert.

Webinar topics for the first seminar can be found here: https://www.biblhertz.it/3685469/webinar_topics.pdf
Sessions will take place weekly in the late afternoon, each lasting two hours. The final schedule will be shaped in consultation with the selected participants.

The first Seminar will conclude with a week-long residency in Lviv (October 27-31, 2025), where participants will present their research topics and take part in lectures, and workshops led by senior experts.

Terms and participation:
Each selected participant will receive an honorarium of 500 EUR, awarded upon successful completion of the Seminar. Travel, accommodation, and per diem expenses for the on-site portion of the program will be fully covered. We strongly emphasize that participation in all the webinars is mandatory. Each week, an assigned moderator from the group will gather a written feedback of one or two pages from participants and prepare a concise summary and questions about the assigned readings. Webinar topics will take place weekly in the late afternoon, each lasting two hours. The final schedule will be shaped in consultation with the selected participants. We ask all applicants to ensure their full commitment to the program and active contribution to the group’s collective work.

Eligibility:
Eligible are doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in Art History and related fields from Ukraine or Ukrainian citizens of Ukraine residing abroad. The working language of the Seminars is English; therefore, a proficient command of the language is required.

Application:
Candidates must submit:
- a CV (PDF)
- a motivation letter (PDF, max. 2 pages)
- a short research proposal (PDF, max. 2 pages)
via the following platform: https://recruitment.biblhertz.it

The applications are accepted until July 7th, 2025 (inclusively). Results of the selection process will be communicated by mid-July.

For more information, please see: https://www.biblhertz.it/uaacademy
We warmly welcome any inquiries that could be addressed to the grantforurkainegmail.com