[1] Collecting Photographs of Infrastructure.
From: Emily Doucet
Date: Apr 30, 2026

Call for papers for a roundtable at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.
Departing from a group of photographs held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture— namely almost seven hundred prints related to bridges, docks, pipelines, and tunnels built around the British Empire by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company, a UK-based entity, beginning in the early twentieth century— this roundtable examines photographs of infrastructure projects as they appear in institutional collections. Infrastructure occupies a complex position in visual culture. As instruments of propaganda, photographs position infrastructure as a spectacle of modern progress. Alternatively, infrastructure is conceptualized as evasive of representation, only becoming visible at its breaking point. Yet, when examining these materials as researchers, we encounter a more ambiguous record—less a grand spectacle and more a collection of clues. Moving beyond generalized claims about infrastructural visibility, this roundtable invites scholars, curators, and artists to present a single photograph of infrastructure, describing how it has generated future directions for research or creation.

Session proposals should be submitted directly to the session co-chairs: Emily Doucet [emily.g.doucetgmail.com] and Katie Addleman [kaddlemancca.qc.ca] using the CFP submission form downloadable from the conference url: https://uaac-aauc.com/conference/#single/0

Proposals are to be 250 words, accompanied by a biography of 150 words.

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[2] Beyond the Face of It: Object-Based Selfhood in Still Life, Portraiture, and Material Culture
From: Justina Spencer
Date: May 4, 2026

This session invites papers that explore how objects participate in the construction and interpretation of the self across cultures and time periods. Moving beyond the primacy of traditional portraiture and figural representation, it examines how objects function as extensions of the body, repositories of memory, or proxies for absent subjects. What does it mean to speak of a portrait without a visible subject? From early modern to contemporary traditions, representations of objects in still lifes and portraits blur the boundaries between genres, producing varied and sometimes unexpected representations of the self. Recent scholarship has also underscored that objects are never neutral but are embedded in histories of extraction and colonialism, from early modern trade networks to contemporary debates on restitution and repatriation. This session, therefore, also welcomes papers that examine how object-based selfhood is shaped through global circulation and exchange. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): Representations of objects as proxies for persons; Autobiographical still life; Global or transcultural object histories and identity; Objects as mediators of memory.

To submit: Click to download the CFP submission form and email it to your chair. Include all fields: the applicant’s name, email address, affiliation and a brief biography (150 words max.), session selected and title of paper proposed with description (300 words max.) in English or French. Click here to fill out the form and please send it to the session chairs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvB76UPXZWMgee6cOxzHWtuP9mZcwZ3WJADPEW_rvsI/export?format=docx

Justina Spencer, University of King's College: justina.spencerukings.ca
Clare Sully-Stendahl, University of King's College: clare.sully-stendahlukings.ca