Appel à communication : « Abstraction and Anthropomorphism in Postwar and Contemporary Sculpture » (Chicago, 12-15 février 2014)

This panel explores the persistence of the body in abstract sculpture, whether as compositional allusion, as the phenomenological viewer, or as the indexical trace or actual presence of the artist. It also considers the ongoing revaluation of figuration and anthropomorphism in the discourse surrounding sculpture since the postwar period. Compelled by a surge in contemporary sculptural work that engages these issues, we wish to ask questions such as: Has the figural been subsumed by or instead sublimated into emphases on materiality and process ? Is there room for a sculptural « body » within current discussions of objecthood and thingness, given the anthropomorphic language of agency and animation available to both? Might abstraction help artists not just to
interrogate but possibly to recover the « statue » as a category of advanced sculptural practice in the present day ? We welcome papers that take up ontological, perceptual, historical, and formal arguments.

Abstract, cover letter, a recent CV, and the CAA conference application form should be emailed by May 6, 2013 to  lisalee1@uchicago.edu and/or katenesin@gmail.com.

CAA Call for Participation, with submission guidelines: http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/2014CallforParticipation.pdf

Session du  colloque du College Art Association (CAA) de Chicago.