Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, Toronto, 17-19 March 2019

Discoveries of artistic materials in the Renaissance: curiosity, expertise, representation and profit

In the 16th century a wave of discoveries of new beds of decorative stones transformed the material appearance of artistic and architectural monuments in Europe.

Three factors lay at the core of this development. The first of these was the new, empirical approach to mineralogy and mining, represented by such scholars as Georgius Agricola, the author of the influential work De natura fossilium libri X (1546), and Anselmus de Boodt, known for his Gemmarum et lapidum historia (1609).

Secondly, the keen interest of rulers in prospecting new natural resources came into play. This interest was stimulated by a combination of several trends: the new model of princely education, which included the study of nature; growing interest of rulers in potential income from natural resources (early mercantilism); and the emergence of a new form of collecting – the Kunst- and Naturalienkammer.

The third decisive factor was the unprecedented mobility of artists in this period. Itinerant artists were welcomed by distant courts not only because of their expertise in art matters, but also in view of their experience in prospecting, mining, and transport of artistically useful materials. Trading in materials discovered in their new postings often became their chief source of income, and in this way they contributed to the spread of these materials.

This panel seeks to discuss the following questions:

- discoveries and re-discoveries of artistic materials (not only stones!) in the Renaissance

- cooperation between rulers and artists on the prospecting, mining, and merchandising of artistic materials

- rulers’ use of artistic materials as means of representation: staging through materials, diplomatic gifts, granting of permission for use of material sources by other commissioners; means of spreading knowledge about (re)discovered materials

- connections between the introduction of new materials and formal or technical innovations, as a consequence of the specific features of those materials

- sources documenting (re)discoveries of materials and invention of new techniques or tools

Please submit proposals to Aleksandra Lipinska

([log in to unmask]) by August 1, 2018.

Proposals should include a paper title (15-word maximum) and abstract (150-word maximum); keywords; and a brief academic CV (300-word maximum).

Submission guidelines available at

https://www.rsa.org/page/2019SubmissionsGuide

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Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, Toronto, 17-19 March 2019

Rethinking Renaissance and Early Modern Musical Instruments

Music has long been theorised as intangible culture separate from the materiality of musical instruments. Moving beyond approaches that position musical instruments merely as containers for sound, this panel aims to rethink and reassess their material, visual, affective and social dimensions. Recent interdisciplinary ‘turns’ towards new materialisms, posthumanisms, sensorialities and object-orientated ontologies are opening up alternative theoretical and methodological pathways and perspectives for engaging with the material culture of music. Building on this growing interest in the agency and vitality of matter, and the social lives and affective dynamics of objects, this panel invites papers that engage with the non-auditory or para-sonic aspects of Renaissance and Early Modern musical instruments. Entangled in cultural flows and commodity chains, instruments moved through Renaissance worlds, articulating meaning, establishing relations and signifying social status as they did so. Musical instruments materially index an array of cultural, political and aesthetic values and were designed not only to be played and heard but to be seen, sold and dis-played. Bringing together scholars from across the disciplines, this panel aims to promote discussion of musical instruments by exploring the ways in which they were valued and made to have meaning, their materiality and aesthetics, and the range of relationships formed between musical instruments and musicians, craftspeople, collectors and sellers.

Topics could address but are by no means limited to:

- The social lives of musical instruments

- Musical instruments and the museological gaze

- Ornamentation, iconography, and aesthetics

- The challenges and opportunities of object-orientated and materialist approaches

- Silenced, collected and dis-played musical instruments

- Practices of instrument production and consumption

- Musical instruments and gender/social/class status

- Object histories

- Instruments as models and metaphors in Renaissance scientific epistemologies,  cosmologies and ontologies

- Epistemological aspects of museum documentation and curatorial practices

- Musical instruments as material culture

- New technologies and historical research: digital imaging, modelling, making and interpretation of cultural heritage objects

This CFP invites paper proposals from scholars working in musicology, art history, organology, cultural history, material and visual culture studies and anthropology. As per RSA guidelines, please send proposals including presenter’s name and affiliation (if applicable), email, paper title (15-word maximum), abstract (150-word maximum), keywords, and a brief curriculum vitae to the organiser Emanuela Vai [[log in to unmask]] by Friday, 27 July 2018.

Presenters will need to be members of the RSA by the time of the conference. Submission guidelines are available at https://www.rsa.org/page/2019SubmissionsGuide.

Feel free to email with any questions.

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