Call for papers
History of Architectural Historiography
Colloquium, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim

In the beginning was Vasari and in the beginning was Palladio. In his Vite Vasari described the lives of painters, sculptors and architects—the context of architectural creation, one may be tempted to say in our modern idiom. In the fourth book of his I quattro libri Palladio presented extensive comprehensive surveys of Roman temples—his was the first systematic publication of architectural works themselves. Since the Renaissance, the discipline of architectural history has been a combination of both approaches. Some architectural historians have been originally trained as art historians, other as architects, and this dual background has decisive for the development of architectural historiography.

It is the history of the discipline of architectural history and its perspectives that interest us in our colloquium: the history of scholarly approaches, their implications and developments through history—but also historical perspectives on where it is going, including, for instance, the changes in scholarship effected by digital technologies or the positioning of the discipline in the rapidly changing academic world. Compared to the histories of painting or sculpture, architectural history is more institutionalized, with a wide range of established societies and specialist publications—but what is the history of that institutionalzsation and how did its goals change through history? Many historians of painting or sculpture work in museums, while architectural museums are rare; many architectural historians are directly involved in the preservation of architectural heritage, while few historians of painting or sculpture work in the conservation of their objects of study. What is then the history of architectural historians’ involvement with architectural heritage and how did their approaches change through history? And more specifically, pertaining to architectural history itself, how did the interest in our discipline develop and how did it develop discipline-specific methodological tools and devices?

In the tradition of the colloquia organised by the Journal of Art Historiography, the meeting is conceived as an exchange of the perspectives of the scholars working in the field. It will take place 12-14 June 2015 at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. 500-words proposals for 30 minutes talks should be sent by 7 January 2015 to branko.mitrovicntnu.no (in the email's subject line please write "conference" and state the title in capital letters). The final papers will be due by 1 June 2015. Expanded versions of those papers will be considered for publication in the Journal of Art Historiography and the deadline for those expanded versions will be September 1st 2015.

There will be a conference fee of NOK 1500 (approx. 200 euros) to cover the costs of a conference dinner, refreshments and administration. Contributors will be expected to make their own hotel bookings though rooms will be reserved in convenient hotels for booking purposes. The expected cost of a single hotel room would be about NOK 1000 (approx. 130 euros) per person per night. Cheap flights are available through Trondheim airport. The organisers will try to provide funding to cover the participation fees of the participants who do not hold permanent academic posts. At this moment there is no certainty that this will be possible, but the participants who do not have tenured positions should indicate this when they send their proposals