Light: Art, Metaphysics, and Science in the Middle Ages

Deadline: 15. November 2023
Jena, September 25–28, 2024

In numerous creation myths, light stands at the beginning of the cosmos. In the Middle Ages, the concepts of light, beauty, and the good were inseparable. Darkness, ugliness, and the evil formed the opposite pole. The degree of perfection of nature, people, and artifacts could be measured by their beauty, which was essentially determined by brightness, brilliance, and luminosity. This concept applied to Byzantium as well as to the Christian West, Judaism, and Islam. To communicate this idea and to enable its experience was not only the highest goal of religious art in the Middle Ages, but also shaped secular and courtly culture. Centering around the topic of light, the 7th “Forum Kunst des Mittelalters” (Jena, September 25–28, 2024) will focus on the multifaceted connections between art, metaphysics, and science in the Middle Ages.

By emphasizing the light-related properties of materials (transparency, reflectivity), medieval artists imbued their creations with an aesthetic quality that pointed beyond the beautiful to the divine as the origin of all things. Questions about the relationship between luminous or light-reflecting materials (gold, silver, gemstones, alabaster, bronze, ivory, silk) and objects, as well as the connection between material, light, and aura were of highest significance across cultures and genres. Rock crystal objects between East and West have recently been the focus of several exhibitions and scholarly studies. Glass as a translucent material par excellence also raises transcultural questions, ranging from the significance of the material as a substitute for gemstones to the realm of its allegorical readings and its function in making the sacred visible.

In architecture, the topic of artists working with and manipulating light can be addressed with reference to cathedrals, castles, and palaces as well as mosques, madrasas, and synagogues. Possible fields of investigation are the relationship between light and built space, the role of light in the design of facades, wall openings, and windows, or the function of dark, windowless spaces in the staging of the sacred.

Luminiferous objects such as candles, chandeliers, and other sorts of lamps served to mark meaningful places or to stage prominent persons and ritual actions, thus offering great potential for further studies. Questions about illumination and light design at masses, coronations, or funerals as well as about lights in motion, for example at processions and festive entries, could contribute to a more precise understanding of the performative potential of light in the Middle Ages.

In encyclopedias, diagrams, and calendars, Western art of the Middle Ages dealt with the connection between light, cosmos, and man. From the 13th century onward, the rational exploration of light and the optical knowledge imported from the Arab world increasingly shaped medieval art. Deepened knowledge of the human vision influenced linear perspective and the representation of light in the arts of the late Middle Ages.

Painters and sculptors now devoted themselves to studying and depicting light phenomena. It remains intriguing to examine how painting and sculpture react to the lighting conditions at their place of installation, how an artwork’s gilding combines aesthetic and theological aspirations, and how the painterly representation of light may reference the divine or may simply be profane surface gloss.

Finally, the topic of light and the sciences builds a bridge to radiation-based art-technological investigation methods of the present day, such as X-ray fluoroscopy, UV or infrared reflectography, which can make the process of the creation of an artwork visible. 

Session 1: Light and Time. Narrating in light and darkness (Double Session) - Session 2: Semantics of Light and Light Openings in Early Medieval Sacred Buildings - Session 3: Stained Glass and Light (Double Session) - Session 4: Light and Lampstands in Medieval Churches - Session 5: Manufacturing and Manipulating Light in Byzantium: Objects, Diagrams, Architecture - Session 6: Light on Sculpture - Session 7: Goldsmithing and lighting effects. Manipulating shadows, the diaphanous and transparency - Session 8: “Shining with Truth”: Silver as Material and Medium - Session 9: In Its True Light: Problems and Perspectives of Research on Medieval Enamels (9th–15th c.) - Session 10: Light Phenomena and Light Effects in German Painting of the Late Middle Ages - Session 11: (In)visible – Monochrome Textiles in the Middle Ages - Session 12: Splendor Librorum – the Radiance of Books. Books, Light, and Movement - Session 13: Luminous writing: On Materiality and Reception of Light in Inscriptions - Session 14: Mirror and reflection - Session 15: Tenebrae / Darkness - Session 16: Illuminating Shadows - Session 17: Controlled strategies in the production and reception aesthetic treatment of daylight and artificial light (Double Session) - Session 18: ‘Light’- and ‘Soundscapes’. Conceptualizing Medieval Liturgies Through Light and Sound - Session 19: Synchrotron radiation based techniques for the investigation of medieval objects

 

For a detailed description of each session please visit

https://www.dvfk-berlin.de/en/call-2/

We now invite applicants – senior and junior researchers alike – to submit paper proposals (preferably in German or English) to these individual sessions. Sessions include one chair and a maximum of three speakers. Presentations usually last 20–30 minutes. Paper proposals of max. 200 words (+ contact details) may be submitted to kontakt@dvfk-berlin.de by November 15 2023. Please note that only one person is scheduled per presentation at a time. The results of the selection and the programme will be published in the first quarter of 2024 at www.dvfk-berlin.de and through other relevant online channels.

 The editing of texts in many versions is one of the most difficult and most promising areas at the intersection of textual scholarship and digital humanities.

 

A two-day virtual conference, “Editing the Text, Editing the Page” on October 5 and 6, will focus on one of the core problems in this domain: how do we edit a text existing in many documents so that we can reflect the richness of every page while still being able compare the text of every page across every document? This virtual conference will bring together scholars from areas ranging from pre-CE texts, Biblical Texts, medieval, renaissance and modern texts, from Zoroastrian texts to Shakespeare and Beckett and beyond, together with experts in text-encoding and digital tool-making. The first day of the conference will have four one-hour workshop presentations on digital tools and environments; on the second day eight papers (with time for questions) will offer different perspectives on the field.

 

Conference presenters are: Elisa Beshero-Bondar, Peter Boot, Barbara Bordalejo, Gerrit Brüning, Alberto Cantera, Ionut Valentin Cucu, Roland Dekker, Gabriel Egan, Franz Fischer, Dirk Van Hulle, Diane Jakacki, Janelle Jenstad, Agnese Macchiarelli, Vincent Neyt, Daniel O’Donnell, Peter Robinson, Ulrich Schmid, Michael Sperberg-McQueen and Raffaele Viglianti.

 

The conference is organized by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Humanities, Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities and the University of Saskatchewan.

 

Please register at https://unive.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqdOCtqT4qGt1QdE-6nZyiXOcaCLQ1pVIJ. Once you have registered, you will get the link to the Zoom room.

 

Info: agnese.macchiarelli@unive.it

 

The full program is attached. See also https://www.unive.it/data/agenda/2/?pagina=1&dal=2023-09-19&al=&testo=international+conference.

 CALL FOR PAPERS 

Devil 2024 Conference

15-18 May 2024

University of King’s College,

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Keynote Speakers

Francesca Stavrakopoulou  University of Exeter, UK

W. Scott Poole College of Charleston, US

 

Keynote Panel, “the Satanic Renaissance”

Joseph Laycock, Texas State University

Ross Blotcher, co-host of “Oh No, Ross and Carrie”

Julie Exline, Case Western University

Michelle Brock, Washington and Lee University

 “The Devil 2024” conference explores the nature, significance, and operation of demonism and demonization across the western tradition. The conference will bring together scholars interested in the social and cultural construction of the devil and the impact of demonism across different chronological periods and from diverse methodological backgrounds. It aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue that addresses challenging questions about how notions of the demonic are shaped by cultural priorities and anxieties, by professional discerners and the media, and by discourses of fear and safety.

“The Devil 2024” will investigate why these images repeat through the ages and why they continue to have still have resonance in the modern world.

 

The Programme Committee welcomes proposals for 20-minute papers, for panels (generally consisting of three papers), and workshops or round-tables dealing with any aspect of demonism and its manifestation in the western tradition.

 

Themes may include but are not limited to:

Binaries and contrarieties

Colonialism and demonism

Constructions and reconstructions of the demonic

Demonic and authority

Demonisation and its application

Demonism and the pursuit of knowledge

Demon possession

Demons and panics

Demons and the environment

Devil, exclusion and social cohesion

Devil, perception and cognition

Devil in the media and popular culture

Diagnosing, engaging and challenging the demonic

Gender, power and social order

Inversions and subversions

Representations of the devil

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted through our online submission portal at https://devil2024.co/  by 15 October 2023.

 

Halifax (pop. 500,000) is the largest city in Atlantic Canada and is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia. It is serviced by direct flights from Boston, New York, London, Montreal, and a number of other major North American and European cities. It has a range of services and attractions and has become a leading regional centre for dining and entertainment. The temperature in May generally ranges from 7C (44F) to 15C (59F).

 

Programme Committee: Michelle D. Brock (W&L Univ.), Peter Dendle (Penn State, Mont Alto), Sarah Hughes (Temple), Vera Kirk (Univ. of Malta), Kathryn Morris (Univ. of King’s College), Richard Raiswell (Univ. of Prince Edward Island), David R. Winter (Brandon Univ.).

 

For more information, please visit us at https://devil2024.co/ or contact us at devil2024conference@gmail.com

Le centenaire de la mort de l’érudit breton François Duine (1870-1924), clericus dolensis, nous invite à célébrer cet anniversaire en lui consacrant le volume 26 de « PECIA. LE LIVRE ET L’ÉCRIT » (BREPOLS). La Bretagne et les pays celtiques en général lui doivent nombre d’études hagiographiques, liturgiques, touchant plus généralement l’histoire religieuse mais bien d’autres thèmes qu’il abordait toujours avec érudition dans son style si particulier.

The centenary of the death of the Breton scholar François Duine (1870-1924), clericus dolensis, invites us to celebrate this anniversary by dedicating to him volume 26 of “PECIA. LE LIVRE ET L’ÉCRIT” (BREPOLS). Brittany, and Celtic lands more generally, owe him a number of hagiographic and liturgical studies concerning religious history, as well as many other themes that he always addressed with erudition and in his own distinctive style.

Nous appelons donc à contribution sur les champs de recherche de l’historien dolois dans un espace temps correspondant au grand Moyen Âge. L’histoire des bibliothèques, des scriptoria monastiques, l’hagiographie, la liturgie et ses manuscrits, autant de thèmes touchant l’ensemble du monde occidental trouveront place dans ce volume, avec un objectif commun : le recours aux sources.

We are therefore calling for contributions to the areas of research explored by the historian from Dol in the time period broadly corresponding to the Middle Ages. The history of libraries, monastic scriptoria, hagiography, liturgy and manuscripts, as well as themes concerning the whole of the Western world, will find their place in this volume, with a common objective: the use of primary sources.

Nous invitons les chercheuses / chercheurs à nous faire parvenir avant le 1^er octobre 2023 un court résumé de leur projet de contribution ainsi qu’un bref curriculum vitae.

We invite researchers to send us a short summary of their proposed contribution and a brief curriculum vitae by 1 October 2023.

Contact : Jean-Luc Deuffic

jldeuffic@gmail.com

Site de PECIA : https://sites.google.com/view/pecia/accueil

Site de BREPOLS : https://www.brepols.net/series/PECIA

https://pecia.blog.tudchentil.org/

 Epic in the Latin West (4^th-15^th Centuries)

 

Nuremberg, Wednesday, 25 September 2024 - Saturday, 28 September 2024

 

Congress organizer: Lehrstuhl für Lateinische Philologie des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit (Prof. Dr. Michele C. Ferrari), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Kochstr. 4/3, D-91054 Erlangen (www.mittellatein.phil.fau.de)

 

Epic, beyond other genres, has been both a guarantor of cultural continuity for millennia and a site of fundamental innovations in literary style and content in Western culture. It has also occasioned heated controversies, because of the complex associations it bears, e.g., with nationalism, colonialism or racism. How do such debates relate to Medieval Latin – or do they?

 

The conference Epic in the Latin West (4^th–15^th Centuries) proposes to explore the genre in its highly varied developments from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period. Medieval Latin gave expression to an overwhelming number of epics, many of them still little studied. The centre of gravity will be the Latin of the Middle Ages, but connections with Classics, other vernaculars, and modernity from the Renaissance to the present day are also possible topics. What do these earlier centuries have to say to the twenty-first?

 

Many avenues might be investigated, such as:

 

- Epic Heroes and Heroines: adaptation of classical heroes (from Homer, Virgil, Lucan, and others); questions of gender; rise of new heroes (biblical and saintly); effects of Christianity on the nature of heroism.

- Texts and Genres: epic and other genres (e.g., historical writing, hagiography, philosophy, or theology); defining features of epic; orality and literacy in composition and transmission; stylistics and metrics; verse in relation to prose.

- Reception: intertextuality, concentrating on Latin but also relating to the vernaculars; text transmission and philological aspects; quotation and paraphrase; text and image; text and music; epic and other media (romances, novels, film, and recent media forms, so long as the connection with Medieval Latin is strong).

 

The conference will take place under the aegis of the International Medieval Latin Committee (president: Prof. Dr. Jan Ziolkowski, Harvard). Mornings will feature plenary lectures (keynote speeches) by internationally recognized specialists, while the afternoon will have papers given in panel sessions (each 20 minutes plus 10 minutes discussion). The conference languages are German, English, French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish.

 

This call for papers is open to scholars at all career stages who would like to present in the panel sessions. Interested individuals should submit their proposals by 1 March 2024 (starting from 1 November 2023) here:

 

www.conftool.net/kongress-epos2024

 

Please note that presenters must also register for the congress. Please send, in addition to your C.V., the title of your contribution and an abstract in English (max. 300 words). The papers themselves may be delivered in any of the conference languages named above. In selecting papers, the organizers are looking to create a spectrum that is thematically and methodologically as broad as possible.

 

Some Sebaldus Bursaries in the amount of 400€ each will be available to travelling speakers under 35 years of age whose proposals are accepted. After the proposal has been accepted and the speaker has agreed to attend, successful recipients will be notified by the conference organizers. A separate application for a Sebaldus Bursary is not necessary. It is not possible to combine a Sebaldus Bursary with a bursary from the HWB Mittellatein Foundation (see below).

 

For more information about the conference and accompanying program, see our homepage:

 

www.mittellatein.phil.fau.de/epos-2024/

 

Prospective presenters and audience members may register by 15 September 2024 (starting from 1 November 2023) here:

 

www.conftool.net/kongress-epos2024

 

For 10 young scholars, travel bursaries in the amount of 400€ each will be available on a competitive basis through the generosity of the HWB Mittellatein Foundation. Please send your application before 30 June 2024, including a full C.V. and a short statement describing your interest in Medieval Latin to: Dr. iur. Felix Berschin, Kennwort „HWB Mittellatein“, Max-Reger-Str. 41, 69121 Heidelberg (Germany).

 

Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Fellowships for

U.S. Citizens at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Academic Years 2024/5

Fellowships are open to researchers in all academic disciplines and support research programs in Israel for up to 20 months (two academic years).

Benefits:

• Stipend: $95,000 ($47,500 per academic year for two years)
• Reimbursement of up to $1,700 for airfare expenses for Fulbright fellows (and spouses)
• Partial reimbursement of children’s education expenses and fees
• Relocation support of up to $9,000 provided by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

 

Apply by September 15, 2023

Visit the program page on our website at https://fulbright.org.il/program/2/627

 

For further information or inquiries, please contact:

 Assaf Levinton

Tel: +972 3 5213804

USprograms@fulbright.org.il

HUJI host supervisor should obtain the institutional letter of commitment from the Hebrew University International Office, Email: kerensa@savion.huji.ac.il

 

Deadline Extension: CFP Midwest Conference for British Studies

by David Pennington

Deadline Extended!!!  The Midwest Conference for British Studies is proud to announce that its 70th Annual Meeting will be held at Bowling Green State University on October 13-14, 2023.

 

The MWCBS 2023 has extended its deadline for paper and panel proposals to May 26, 2023.  The MWCBS 2023 will feature a wide variety of papers and panels from established and early career scholars, and a keynote speech from Christopher Otter, professor of history at the Ohio State University and author most recently of Diet for a Large Planet:  Industrial Britain, Food Systems, and World Ecology (2020).  Perhaps the only thing that could make the conference any better would be YOUR PAPER!

The MWCBS seeks papers from scholars in all fields of British Studies, broadly defined to include those who study England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Britain’s Empire and the Commonwealth from Roman Britain to the modern age. We welcome scholars from a broad spectrum of disciplines, including but not limited to history, literature, political science, gender studies, art and music history. We welcome scholars at all stages of their careers, from graduate students to emeriti, as well as independent scholars, people working in associated careers, and more traditional academics. We accept full panel proposals and individual proposals equally. The MWCBS encourages scholars to use H-Albion to find additional panelists. Our organization can also help find chairs, commentators, and additional panelists, if needed.

The MWCBS welcomes individual proposals and proposals for panels (of three participants plus chair/commentator), roundtables (of four participants plus chair), poster sessions, and panels featuring the pre-circulation of papers among participants and audience members.

The MWCBS welcomes proposals that:

• Examine new trends in British Studies
• Explore new developments in digital humanities, pedagogies, and/or research methodologies
• Present professional development sessions on collaborative or innovative learning techniques in the British Studies classroom or on topics of research, publication, public outreach, or employment relevant to British Studies scholars
• Offer comparative analyses of different periods of British Studies, such as comparing medieval and early modern issues in context
• Situate the arts, letters, and sciences in a British cultural context
• Present new research on the political, social, cultural, and economic history of the British Isles
• Examine representations of British and imperial/Commonwealth national identities, including the construction of identities shaped by race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and dis/ability
• Consider Anglo-American relations, past and present
• Assess a major work or body of work by a scholar

The MWCBS welcomes presentations by advanced graduate students and will award the Walter L. Arnstein Prize for the best graduate student paper(s) given at the conference. A limited number of Jim Sack Travel Awards will also be available, and all graduate students are encouraged to apply. Further details will be available on the MWCBS website: http://mwcbs.edublogs.org/

Proposal Requirements and Deadline:

• Include a 200-word abstract for each paper and a 1-page c.v. for each participant, including chairs and commentators.
• For full panels, also include a 200-word abstract for the panel as a whole.
• Please place the panel abstract, accompanying paper proposals, and vitas in one Word or PDF file and submit it as a single attachment. Also identify, within the e-mail, the panel’s contact person.
• All proposals should be submitted electronically by May 26 to the Program Committee Chair, David Pennington at dpennington41@webster.edu.

 

For information on shuttles from Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, and Dayton airports to Bowling Green State University, go to:  https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/purchasing/documents/contracted-suppliers/BGAirportShuttle.pdf

 

For more information and updates about the MWCBS, go to http://mwcbs.edublogs.org/