Image and Time
The Fifth International Graduate Symposium of Art History
Peking University, November 22-23, 2014

Everything has its history. In the transition from the "linguistic turn"
to the "pictorial turn", image has not only permeated every aspect of
our life, but also has more profoundly shaped the ways in which we
understand the past, present and future, than ever.
The historical ruins always bring us the nostalgic memories. Xie He
(479-502) once said: "The thousand years of silence can be seen from a
displayed painting." In China, the image has long been regarded as a
cognitive means of understanding history. To some extent, the history of
art is the history of studying man-made things within the frame of
history. However, whether the image can be used as reliable evidence for
the historical research? How should the Art History do in the debate of
"image demonstrating history" or "history demonstrating image"?
In the Shape of Time, George Kubler has warned the new generation of
academics to abandon the simple "biological model", and to replace it
with the more complicated and more precise historical narratives. The
"retro" in Chinese traditional culture is a very interesting historical
and cultural phenomena. A lot of art history innovations have been
achieved through the retro. In these cases, to promote the retro does
not mean to completely "recover" or "respond" to the real ancient times,
but to view the future as the past in order to obtain the contemporary
art visions, through remembering, tracing and fusing some lost images.
The 2014 Peking University Graduate Symposium aims to provide the young
scholars with an intellectually engaging platform, where they can
exchange ideas and share their own research through the theme of "Image
and Time". We are now open to accept proposals from graduate students
both in China and overseas.
During the symposium, we will offer accommodations to the invited
participants, including food and lodging. In addition, we will cover
costs for a field trip for the participants, which will be organized
following the symposium.

The working language will be both Chinese and English.

Potential participants should submit a proposal of 1000-word and current
curriculum vitae to: conferencepkugmail.com by July 31, 2014. A
confirmation email will be sent to the applicants after the proposals
are selected.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Ms. Guan Jianhong: guanjianhong05gmail.com
Ms. Ruan Jinyi: ruanjy22sina.com
Address: 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, PRC, 100871
Shool of Arts, Peking University
Tel. 0086-10-62751197
Fax. 0086-10-62759675