Appel à communication : « The Art of Ritual : Object, Image and Space in Medieval and Early Modern Europe »

The Art of Ritual (London, 17 May 14)

London, May 17, 2014
Deadline: Mar 31, 2014

The Art of Ritual – Object, Image and Space in Medieval and Early
Modern Europe

This conference is organized by three Junior Fellows of the Institute
of Historical Research from diverse scholarly backgrounds: Dhwani Patel
(KCL), Wendy Sepponen (University of Michigan) and Jo Edge (RHUL). It
will bring together two fields of research – the material and the
ceremonial – that are intimately connected but rarely explored together
in a conference setting.

The Art of Ritual aims to bring focus to how material culture and art
(broadly defined) fits into and shapes ritual, and will be organized
into three principal thematic strands. The first is art that influenced
ritual, for example space and site specificity, or the importance and
history of a particular place, site or space in connection with ritual.
The second is art that reflected ritual, for example representations of
processions. The final strand concerns objects and images that
functioned as an integral part of ritual, for example relics and
magical diagrams.

This conference will have a broad chronological, disciplinary and
geographic scope, drawing from art historians, historians, and
archaeologists from the late antique to early modern periods. Speakers
including Achim Timmermann (University of Michigan), Sophie Page (UCL),
Zoe Opacic (Birkbeck), Tom Nickson (The Courtauld Institute) and
Natalia Petrovskaia (University of Cambridge) are already confirmed to
speak. They will share approaches and experiences that will allow
postgraduates in attendance to develop skills in the examination of a
wide range of evidence relating to material culture and ritual practice.

There is space for two PhD presenters to give 30 minute papers on any
aspect of art, in its broadest definition, and its connection to ritual
in the medieval or early modern period. An abstract of no more than 200
words should be sent to artofritualconference@gmail.com by 31 March
2014.

The conference will take place in the Senate Room, Senate House,
London, WC1E 7HU.