Call for Papers:
The Multi-Media Middle Ages
International Congress on Medieval Studies
May 9-12, 2013 at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art
Organizers: Melanie Garcia Sympson, University of Michigan, and Trevor
Martin Verrot, Yale University
Like an image, a medium has the capacity to speak, and different media
speak their own language. This panel seeks to focus attention on the
media of medieval image-making, whether wood, stone, ivory, glass,
parchment or paper, or pigment itself. Medium refers both to the
material substratum of a given work, with its array of connotations,
and to a capacity to realize and disseminate form and information. It
is clear that the medium itself often conveys meaning, and that
different media gained significance in relation to one another, whether
in composite works or through transferred effects. A discussion of
media implies a consideration of change and transformation; new media
and new artistic processes affected the production and reception of
images and the development of new iconographies. The analysis of media
in the medieval period offers an opportunity to examine the
connotations of material, and to bring home the point that significance
rested not only on the ostensible content of an image but also on its
status as an object in a medium.
With this in mind, we invite papers that explore multiple points of
departure relating to media. Consider hierarchies among media, for
example: While an image may have a life independent of its medium,
images rendered in various media seem to have varying worth. Was it a
matter of material value alone? Alternatively, to what extent did
“accidental” properties of particular media inflect the representation
of a single iconography? How did workshop practices, or considerations
of labor and artisanry, limit (or stimulate) stylistic change and the
development of new iconographies? Relatedly, how were displays of
effort and skill registered as value? Could transfers of effect from
one medium to another—simulated effects—add value? And finally, perhaps
most fundamentally, is the term media itself still useful in light of
recent work within the conceptual framework of materiality?
To propose a paper, please send a one-page abstract and a completed
Congress Participant Information Form, available on the Congress
website, to one of the organizers. Proposals should be emailed no later
than September 15th.
Trevor Martin Verrot: <[log in to unmask]>
Melania Garcia Sympson: <[log in to unmask]>
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