CFP: Rethinking Medieval Rome (SAH, Glasgow, June 2017 ) - Deadline: 06/06/16

CFP: Rethinking Medieval Rome: Architecture and Urbanism

Society of Architectural Historians 2017 Annual International Conference  — 7–11 June 2017 — Glasgow, Scotland

Sponsored by the Italian Art Society, www.italianartsociety.org — Submission Deadline: 6 June 2016, online at www.sah.org

Organizers:  Marius B. Hauknes, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University & Alison Locke Perchuk, Assistant Professor of Art History, California State University Channel Islands

Call for Papers

This session seeks to assess the impact of recent methodological developments on the study of the architecture and urban forms of the city of Rome from the end of the Gothic War (ca. 554) to the re-establishment of the papacy under Pope Martin V (ca. 1420). In the past decade the medieval humanities have opened up new perspectives on the past by focusing on questions of materiality, agency, temporality, spatiality, cross-cultural interaction, and ecocriticism. These new approaches, many of which are informed by interdisciplinary research and contemporary cultural interests in the natural and built world, are fundamentally reshaping how we conceive of and study medieval architecture and urbanism. This panel will examine how new methodologies and theoretically informed approaches are changing our understanding of the architecture of medieval Rome. The city of Rome has long occupied a particular place in scholarly narratives as the seat of the papacy, as a destination for pilgrims, and as a mythical symbol of past grandeur and decline. Historians of Rome’s medieval architecture and urban fabric have traditionally focused on such issues as the distinctively retrospective character of the city's basilicas, the relationship between architecture and liturgy, the reuse of ancient materials, the topographical distinctions between the city’s inhabited and uninhabited regions, or the polemical character of Rome’s baronial tower houses. This session inquires into the current status of medieval Rome, both within the field of architectural history and in relation to the broader discourses of the medieval humanities. We invite contributions from architects, architectural historians, and scholars in allied fields whose work charts new avenues for rethinking the history of medieval Rome’s built environment through novel questions, through innovative methodological and technological approaches, by presenting new evidence, or by means of critical revisions of existing scholarly narratives.

Possible topics and perspectives include but are not limited to:

• Questions of reception and sensory experience; the cultural and social perspectives of historical observers, the phenomenology of architecture; and virtual and imaginary experiences of medieval Rome’s urban forms.

• Problems of space and place, including scholarly conceptualizations of space versus medieval understandings of space; typologies of interior and exterior spaces.

• Iconography of architecture and questions of copying; architecture as relic or icon; urban spaces as replications of sacred landscapes; medieval ideas about the age and origins of buildings; the concept of “building in time” and the temporality of building practices.

• Questions of mobility and the effects of trans-regional exchange on Roman building practices; the problem of Romanesque and Gothic in medieval Rome; the place of Rome within artistic, cultural, and commercial networks; the influence of medieval Roman architecture and the re-creation of romanitas abroad.

• Eco-critical, environmental, and material perspectives; the physicality of built and natural environments, expressions of physical and spiritual topographies, and the relationship between matter and meaning in architectural and religious practices. 

• Previously overlooked works of architecture; new knowledge and insights provided by other disciplines and fields; comparative analyses, and re-assessments of the historiographic lives of architects, builders and monuments.

Submission Guidelines:

1. Abstracts must be under 300 words.

2. The title cannot exceed 65 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

3. Abstracts and titles must follow the Chicago Manual of Style.

4. Only one abstract per conference by author or co-author may be submitted.

5. A maximum of two (2) authors per abstract will be accepted.

Abstracts must be submitted on line; see http://www.sah.org/conferences-and-programs/2017-conference-glasgow/call-for-papers for information and link to submission portal.

One need not be a member of the Italian Art Society to propose a paper.  It is expected that once papers are accepted, any proposers not currently IAS members will join the Italian Art Society and will maintain membership through the date of the conference. www.italianartsociety.org

One not need be a member of the Society of Architectural historians to propose a paper.  However, each speaker must register and establish membership in SAH for the 2017 conference by August 31, 2016, and must pay the non-refundable conference registration fee to show their commitment. www.sah.org

Queries: Marius Hauknes, marius.hauknes@gmail.com or Alison Perchuk, alison.perchuk@csuci.edu