Artisti e Collezioni: Storie, Pratiche e Interazioni (Milano, 2-3 Dec 25)

The establishment of preferential relationships between artists and the possession of objects and works of art can be a complex matter. These relationships may be distant in terms of formal characteristics, or, conversely, they may be the primary reference models for the artists’ production. Conversely, artists have frequently engaged in various activities with collectors, contributing to the formation and understanding of collections.

The objective of the conference, scheduled for 2-3 December 2025 at Università IULM in Milan, is to investigate the intricacies of the relationships between artists and collections of objects and works of art from the Middle Ages to the contemporary era. The investigation will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, integrating traditional research into the history of art with Visual Studies, to be understood as relating not only to the contemporary.

Specifically, we welcome original contributions that analyse the artists’ involvement in the dynamics of formation, growth, enhancement, curatorship, installation, transfer, donation, documentation, and the musealization of their own and other people’s collections. Therefore, through documentary, literary and visual sources – from inventories to illustrated catalogues, from travel reports to site-specific works within public and private collections – the aim is to reconstruct and restore the artists’ professional versatility, applied to the collections with which they come into contact.

Concurrently, we are interested in research concerning artists’ collections, with the objective of delineating the figure of the artist as collector and elucidating the relationship between artistic taste and production. This will also serve to clarify the formative and didactic function of collections that are accessible to artists for study, consultation and attendance. The collections to be examined will include those from art academies, private individuals and various kinds of institutions.

Those scholars interested in participating in the conference are expected to submit an abstract in Italian or English (maximum 2000 characters, spaces included) by 30 May 2025 to artistiecollezioni@gmail.com
The acceptance of proposals will be communicated by 30 June 2025.
The time allocated for presentations is 20 minutes.

Papers may be presented in Italian, English, French or Spanish.
The conference proceedings shall be published in 2026.

Conference Curators: Professor Lorenzo Finocchi Ghersi, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici; Professor Simona Moretti, Dipartimento di Comunicazione, arti e media “Giampaolo Fabris”

Conference Organisation: Dr Alberto Maria Casciello; Dr Chiara Matelli; Dr Lucrezia Sozzè; Dr Francesca Urbinati