From funerary objects of antiquities to medieval altarpieces, from Byzantine icons and Buddhist shrines to ritual masks in Africa and Melanesia, many of the most evocative works of art derive from a ritual context. The relationship of art and architecture to ritual, both theoretical and physical, is diverse and complex, covering a range of topics that include sculpture, religious structures, ceremonial garments, as well as visual depictions of rituals or ceremonies in various media. In what ways do art objects relate to ritual? How does the presence of art objects help us re-think ritual, both in terms of words, actions, performance, space and materiality? What is the role of visual culture in the creation, dissemination, and longevity of a ritual?
The University of Oregon Art History Association’s annual Spring Symposium invites papers from undergraduate as well as graduate students that consider the relationship of art and architecture to various ritual practices, beliefs, and ideologies. We welcome submission of papers from any period of art history, western and non-western, as well as any related discipline including anthropology, religious studies, philosophy, and literary studies.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
The role of art and ritual in identifying and indoctrinating: this could include papers that relate art, artifact, and architecture to the various ways ritual can both create and be used as an identifying factor, as well as a means of indoctrinating members of a society. Example topics include: ritual spaces, depiction of rituals associated with war, art as liturgical objects, etc.
Art, in conjunction with ritual, as a means of communication: papers addressing this topic may relate art and architecture to ritual via the way these objects and buildings depict messages conveyed by or through ritual. Example topics include: art and artifacts as ritual objects, texts used in rituals or about rituals, funerary practices and monuments or depictions of funerary practices, etc.
Art and ritual as cultural expression: this could include papers that discuss art, architecture and ritual in the various ways they work together to communicate specific ideologies or elements of a particular culture. This may also include papers that deal with art and ritual as a means of cultural exchange via trade, conquest, exploration, etc. Example topics include: garments worn in ritual, everyday objects treated as ritual objects, ritual architecture, etc.
Theories of art and ritual:this topic includes the numerous ways in which scholars discuss and understand ritual and ritual practices via visual culture.Example topics include: the role of memory in ritual, the museum as ritual, viewing as ritual, temporal elements related to ritual, production of objects as ritual, artist as creator of ritual, etc.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Professor Carlo Severi, chair of “Anthropology and Memory” at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France, will deliver the keynote address on art as ritual object.
Interested graduate and undergraduate students should submit 250-word abstract and current curriculum vitae by Friday, January 15, 2010 before 5pm. Selected participants will be asked to submit a completed draft of the paper by Wednesday, March 31, 2010 before 5pm.
Selected participants will be notified via email or letters by Friday, February 5, 2010.
E-mail submissions to: kilian@uoregon.edu
Submissions by mail:
Laura Kilian
Department of Art History
School of Architecture and Allied Arts
5229 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-5229
Past Symposia
2004 "Here and Now, Then and When: The Visualization of Past, Present, and Future in Art and Architecture"
2005 "Artistic Allegiances: Cultural Identity Expressed in Art and Architecture"
2006 "Rebels and Renegades"
2008 "Influence: Process, Patronage and Perception"
