Art in Patterns: Form and Geometrization Across Time and Space.

Online conference series
hosted by the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino
4, 11, and 18 June 2026, at 10 am (Chile time, GMT-4).

This online conference series brings together scholars working on non-figurative art, pattern systems, geometrization, ornament and abstraction across a wide range of cultural and historical contexts, from the Indigenous Americas and Africa to Europe and Southeast Asia.

The programme includes three thematic sessions:
• Forms of Abstraction in Indigenous American Worlds (4 June)
• Pattern Systems in African Art: From Ancestral Memory to Contemporary Innovation (11 June)
• Non-Figurative Art Across Regions: Tradition, Modernity, and Hybrid Identities (18 June)

Registration is required to attend.

Programme for download and information:
https://museo.precolombino.cl/art-in-patterns/
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PROGRAMME

June 4th – I. Forms of Abstraction in Indigenous American Worlds
Moderator: Felipe Armstrong, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

10:00 AM Welcome and Introduction

10:05 AM Bat-ami Artzi, Felipe Armstrong, Claudio Alvarado, and Fernanda Gurovich
“Curating Indigenous Geometric Art from the Americas: Between Pan-Americanism and Localism”

10:30 AM Sanja Savkic Sebek
“Surface, Pattern, and Reduction in Maya Visual Culture”

10:55 AM Max Carocci
“Semasiographic Systems of Baja California: Non-Figurative Signs for Communicating (with) the Invisible”

11: 20 AM Paolo Fortis
“A Geometrical Conundrum: Abstract Figuration and Figurative Action in Amerindian Art”

11:45 AM Q&A

12:05 AM Closing Remarks

June 11th II. – Pattern Systems in African Art: From Ancestral Memory to Contemporary Innovation
Moderator: Deborah Dainese (Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, UEA)

10:00 AM Welcome and Introduction

10:05 AM John Paul Nkwap
“Pattern and Memory: Archaeological Perspectives on Design in Material Traditions of the Jos Plateau”

10:30 AM Emma Wingfield
“Mapping Motifs, Weaving Worlds”

10:55 AM Maria Chiara Scuderi
“Patterns of Encounter: Adopting and Adapting African Pyrography Motifs in British Design”

11: 20 AM Stefaan Vervoort & Rana Van Pellecom
“Black Skin, Abstract Patterns: Madeleine Christine Forani in the Belgian Congo (1954–55)”

11:45 AM Q&A

12:05 AM Closing Remarks

June 18th – III. Non-Figurative Art Across Regions: Tradition, Modernity, and Hybrid Identities
Moderator: Sanja Savkic Sebek, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

10:00 AM Welcome and Introduction

10:05 AM Eva Zak
“Patterning Translation: Victoria Barr, Indonesian Visual Systems, and the Limits of Western Abstraction”

10:30 AM Monica Croitoru-Tonciu
“Non-Figurative Motifs in Romanian National Style Architecture and Decorative Arts, early 20th century”

10:55 AM Maja T. Izquierdo
“Patterning Worlds in the Balkans: Non-Figurative Traditions and the Structuring of Perception”

11: 20 AM Charlene Vella
“Repetition, Reflection, and Reuse: Non-Figurative Ornament in Medieval and Early Modern Malta”

11:45 AM Q&A

12:05 AM Closing Remarks