INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM -

CALL FOR PAPERS AND SESSIONS

This call for papers may also be consulted in English at www.sah.org and in French at www.inha.fr

SECOND SAH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

Paris 1-4 September 2005

Following on the first International Symposium (see p.6) co-sponsored by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the SAH, a second, more broad-ranging symposium has been organized for September 2005. Cosponsored by the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (French national institute of art history) and the SAH, the symposium will be held in the newly renovated quarters of the Institute in the Galerie Colbert on the right bank in Paris, and is intended to foster the broadest possible international exchanges in the field of architectural history. The meeting aims to bring together scholars working both in architectural history and in adjacent fields for three days of discussions on the current state of the discipline and on its emerging concerns. The theme “Changing Boundaries” applies as much to the objects of study of architectural history as to the very scope of its inquiry. Accordingly participation from both individual scholars and research teams is invited in three broad areas: Changing Spatial Boundaries, Changing Temporal Boundaries, and Changing Disciplinary Boundaries. Overall theme: What happens to the objects architectural historians study, and to the nature of the discipline’s practices and assumptions, when frames of reference change? In a world in which both political boundaries and national identities have been shifting, even as the scales of globalization have seemed ever more challenging, the theme of “Changing Boundaries” is both of great currency and historical significance. To serve as a forum for the widest possible discussion, to foster dialogue across national borders and across sub-disciplinary boundaries and specialties, the symposium invites papers, individually or from groups of researchers, addressing all historical periods and all areas of the world. The conference organizers hope to publish the proceedings of the symposium in 2006. The meeting will be accompanied by visits in and around Paris.

THEME I: SPATIAL BOUNDARIES

Architectural historians have begun to respond to some of the most challenging new work in geography, anthropology and the study of the organization of territory in relation to political power and to knowledge. These new questions and new alliances with different modes of spatial analysis open new ways of thinking about architecture and its history. In the last two generations, for instance, historians of Roman antiquity have begun to challenge the relationship between center and periphery in the study of ancient architectural and urban form; medievalists have placed an increasingly greater emphasis on architects’ itineraries and on patterns of institutional structures; historians of Islamic architecture have begun to rechart the paths of transmission of architectural styles and configurations; historians of Renaissance architecture have sought to break the tie with Italian norms in assessing national practices and local audiences; and the history of modern architecture has been subtly challenged as the issue of regionalism has questioned the supposed internationalism of the modern movement. These are but a few examples of the types of questions currently challenging the geographic and spatial premises of architectural history. The opening up of virtual space has added an even more challenging dimension to the notion of spatial boundaries. While these questions have been studied within fields and sub-specialties, this session aims to provide a dialogue across periods and cultures to explore the very issue of shifting geographic boundaries.

THEME II: TEMPORAL BOUNDARIES

Time, in the age of the Internet and virtual reality, has become multiple. At least the perception that this is so has led many to study the history of the perception of time, and the multiple temporal realities that might exist even in a single geographic space at any point in historical time, from new perspectives. Along with these preoccupations – philosophical, technological, economical – with changing temporal boundaries comes a renewal of the question of historic periodization which has been a mainstay of architectural history since its beginnings in the late 18th century. What temporal frames are productive for the analysis of architecture and its evolution today? How do the questions we ask of individual works, or the corpus of work, of an architect change in relationship to new subdivisions of stylistic or political time? As political boundaries shift, do temporal and stylistic frames conceived as a function of nationalist art history still hold? How can definitions, sometimes multiple, of national architecture inform architectural practice? This session invites case studies in architectural history that raise questions of shifting temporal frames as well as reflections on studies in architectural history that have marked subsequent work. Investigations of the critical fortune of individual works in relationship to changing chronological divisions of political or artistic his  tory are especially welcome. The session seeks to bring together a variety of period specialists and perspectives for the broadest possible discussion of both historiographical and contemporary issues. Proposals are invited which address any aspect of this theme from historiographical questions to matters of application of historical criteria to national inventories and to landmark preservation.

THEME III: DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES

The alliances of architectural history with other fields of inquiry and other bodies of knowledge have shifted considerably in recent years. This session looks at the ways both the questions and practices of the discipline have changed with these shifting alliances. Papers are invited that address both the historical profile and the contemporary ramifications of these new alliances with different subfields in the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences. These questions are obviously strongly tied to the very definition of architectural history and the complex position it occupies in relationship to architectural practice and to the division of knowledge in the academy. For instance Walter Benjamin’s work has had a profound impact on the study of cities, from the dual perspectives of Marxist thought and literary theory; the work of Michel Foucault on the spaces of repression and on the genealogies of knowledge has radically affected methods and questions in architectural history; and a renewed interest in the legacy of Aby Warburg and his followers and their interest in an iconographical approach has enriched understanding of architectural theories, as have renewed interests in the links between scientific and artistic cultures at different periods. Papers from all historical fields are welcomed, as are case studies of both a historical and a methodological nature.

ORGANIZATION OF THE SYMPOSIUM

1. Plenary Sessions.

Papers are invited for each of the three plenary sessions listed above. Each session can accommodate up to six papers and will be chaired by an internationally recognized architectural historian who will participate with the organizing committee in forming the final program for the conference and who will chair the session and the discussion. Paper presentations will be strictly limited to twenty minutes. Those wishing to submit a paper should send an abstract of no more than 400-600 words in English or French. Papers may ultimately be delivered in languages other than English and French and a written translation will be provided; issues of translation will be dealt with after the selection of the papers. Abstracts should define the subject and summarize the argument to be presented in the proposed paper and make explicit their connection to the larger theme of the session. The content of the paper should be the product of welldocumented, original research that is primarily analytical and interpretative rather than descriptive in nature. Papers cannot have been previously published or presented in public except to a small, local audience. Only one submission per author will be accepted. All abstracts will be held in confidence. Notification of selection will be made by early February 2005. Full texts of papers will be required to be submitted by 15 April if translation is required, or by 15 May 2005 if papers are submitted in English or French. Abstracts should be submitted before 15 December 2004 to Mme. Alice Thomine, Changing Boundaries, Institut national d’histoire de l’art, 2 rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris, France. A copy should also be submitted by e-mail by the same date to the following e-mail address: changingboundaries@inha.fr

2. Satellite Sessions (Ateliers).

Up to six break-out or satellite sessions will be organized in conjunction with each of the plenary sessions; they will follow the session and should relate to it in theme. They are allotted to time slots of two hours duration and planned for rooms that can accommodate at least 40 attendees. Individuals or organizations wishing to propose a satellite session should submit a detailed proposal including:

1. an abstract which presents the theme and goals of the session in narrative form (not to exceed 600 words);
   
2. a list of participants with institutional affiliations and CVs;
   
3. a list of any previous publications or public meetings organized by the team or its members;
4. any other supporting material to help the selection committee evaluate the proposal and the professional accomplishments of the individual participants; and
   
5. a proposed schedule for the organization of the session within the two hour time slot.
   

The organization of workshops (choice of papers and participants, length and type of presentations) will be entrusted preferably to teams of scholars (research laboratory or university center, preservation and conservation institutions, teaching or research institutions, scholarly societies, etc.) who have an established international network able to participate in addressing the proposed theme.
Please submit all materials before 15 December 2004 to Mme. Alice Thomine, Changing Boundaries, Institut national d’histoire de l’art, 2 rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris, France. A copy should also be submitted by e-mail by the same date to the following e-mail address: changingboundaries@inha.fr Individual participants or groups of scholars selected and whose institutions cannot cover travel expenses should contact the conference organizers who are currently researching travel subsidies. Organizing committee: Barry Bergdoll, Jean-Louis Cohen, Neil Levine, Werner Oechslin, Daniel Rabreau, Frank Salmon, Dany Sandron, Alice Thomine, Pieter Uytenhove.