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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

With apologies for cross-posting

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MEDIEVAL STUDIES - THE
MEDIEVAL INSTITUTE - WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY - May 10-13, 2007 -
KALAMAZOO MI

Movement and Meaning in Medieval Art and Architecture 

In the Middle Ages, buildings and works of art were often experienced
through ritual actions involving the movement of objects or through the
viewer’s own movements. Movement, thus, is a fundamental category for the
interpretation of art. Closely related to the functional context of medieval
works of art or architecture, it can transmit or even define several layers
of meaning. In these two joint sessions we propose to investigate categories
of movement relevant to the interpretation of medieval works of art and
architecture.

Session A, “The Moving Art Work,” explores the specific meanings defined by
the ritual movement of both large and small objects. Examples include large
winged altarpieces or shrines (i.e. Flügelaltarretabel and
Flügelaltarschreine), which display a variety of images or relics, and
smaller objects such as books, reliquaries, liturgical vessels, and icons.
For this session, we invite papers that focus on objects for which movement
is intrinsic to their function, or on artifacts that acquire further layers
of meanings once they are set in motion. 
Session B, “The Moving Viewer,” focuses on larger, works of art, fixed in
location, buildings, or urban settings, whose reception depended on the
movement of the viewer. Reliquaries or shrines more permanently installed in
specially created architectural settings – such as medieval crypts, etc. –
are the motionless centers of attention for flows of pilgrims. Processions,
public ceremonies and ritual movements of individuals within religious
buildings and urban settings convey to these sites and objects meanings,
which go beyond their immediate significance. 

The papers in these two sessions are intended to discuss the ways in which
medieval works of art and /or buildings were experienced in their functional
and intellectual contexts. The category of movement provides a broader
framework for art historical research, in which approaches, such as formal
analysis, iconography, social and mental history, religious study, and more
broadly, the study of cultural traditions, find a new synthesis.
Both sessions are complementary and distinct at the same time. They address
the broader theme of movement in art and architecture as a fundamental
carrier of meaning, by covering the two ways of motion relevant to the
interpretation of art: the perception of the moving work of art and the
viewer in motion. 

Session organizers:
Giovanni Freni, Index of Christian Art, Princeton University
Nino Zchomelidse, Dept. of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University
 

To submit a 20-minute paper for either session, please, send an abstract
with an abstract cover sheet (downloadable from the congress website:
http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/42cfp/forms/ACS.pdf) via mail or fax
to and/or contact: 

Giovanni Freni, Princeton University - Index of Christian Art, Department of
Art and Archaeology - McCormick Hall A9, Princeton NJ 08544 
Tel. 609 258 6364; Fax 609 258 0103; email: [log in to unmask] 

Only submissions received by September 15, 2006 will be considered.

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