This program consists of a series of three research seminars of one-week duration each, discussing periodization and related issues in the history of art, whose addressees are early-career art historians from East-Central Europe, and which include a number of invited guest speakers, from this region, and outside it. Though a sense that the conventional periodizations are in need of revision can be detected earlier, a more pointed reflection on this topic can be noticed after the demise of communism and the dismantling of the colonial system. In the aftermath of the 1989 events in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, a number of scholars felt the pressing need to reconsider the place of local art histories within the established narratives, and to reflect on how these local histories might fit within the Western canon, or to question its authority. Art historians dealing with modern and contemporary art were particularly sensitive to such questions, but this gradually became a more general concern, affecting the writing of histories of art of earlier periods. Frictions between the generally accepted periodizations and local trajectories in art became more apparent, making it necessary to reflect on approaches that could address such concerns, and on the instruments art historians may put to use in order to tackle particular case studies. It thus seems to us that periodization, with the many issues related to it, is a topic likely to elicit interest from colleagues and younger scholars from countries in the region, and to lead to fruitful exchanges not just across the discipline, but across national borders, and – through the presence of the invited speakers – across regional ones.

This series of seminars aims to address questions that are (or so we deem) of interest to art historians in the countries of East-Central Europe in ways that would counter a piece-meal approach, mostly dictated by national borders, in favor of a more unified one, and would provide an opportunity to identify common concerns, and possibly case studies that could (or should) encourage cross-border collaboration. It hopes to contribute in this manner to a better communication between art historians in this region.

Structure and content

The Program consists of a series of three one-week seminars with the participation of 16 early career scholars from East-Central Europe, up to 4 keynote/guest speakers per seminars, the Coordinator and the Consultants. Each seminar will have three main components:

• Talks delivered by keynote/guest speakers, followed by discussions
• Discussions taking as a starting point key texts relevant for the topics approached in the seminars
• Presentations of works in progress/case studies by the addressees of the Program, that is, early career scholars from East-Central Europe, and discussions on them with colleagues, guest speakers, coordinator and consultants

Dates

Third seminar: June 16 – 23, 2022
*Originally scheduled for May 2020, this third (and final) seminar in the series had to be postponed due to the pandemic. In the interval we have scheduled a webinar, as a means for the members of the team to keep in touch.

Second seminar: November 25 – December 3, 2019
First seminar: May 6 – 14, 2019

Guest speakers

Third seminar:

Mieke BAL, Professor of Theory of Literature and founding director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam

Andrea GIUNTA, Principal Researcher at CONICET, Argentina, Professor of art history at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Curator Bienal 12, Porto Alegre, 2020

Christopher WOOD, Professor and Chair, Department of German, New York University (Affiliated Faculty, Department of Comparative Literature and Institute of Fine Arts)

Magdalena RADOMSKA, Assistant Professor, Art History Institute, Adam Mickiewicz University, Founder and Head of the Piotr Piotrowski Center for Research on East-Central European Art

PUBLIC LECTURES

The public talks will take place at the NEC (though some of them online), but the audience is kindly asked to rather resort to the Zoom transmission since our conference hall cannot accommodate more people than the ones engaged in the seminar.

Recurrent link for all the public talks:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82640541798?pwd=SC85MzhyWnNjZk1reTg1N0h4T2M4dz09

Meeting ID: 826 4054 1798
Passcode: 414844

Second seminar:

Thomas DACOSTA KAUFMANN, Frederick Marquand Professor of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University

Matthew RAMPLEY, Professor, Department of Art History, Masaryk University, Brno, ERC Principal Investigator | Continuity / Rupture: Art and Architecture in Central Europe 1918-1939

Katarzyna MURAWSKA-MUTHESIUS, Professor of Art History at Birkbeck College, University of London

Carmen POPESCU, Professor of Architectural History at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Bretagne (Rennes)

PUBLIC LECTURES

First seminar:

Patrick FLORES, Professor of Art Studies at the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines, Curator of the Vargas Museum in Manila, and Adjunct Curator at the National Art Gallery, Singapore

Krista KODRES, Professor at the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, and head of the doctoral curriculum in art history

Saloni MATHUR, Professor, Modern And Contemporary South Asian Art, Department of Art History, UCLA

PUBLIC LECTURES

*

Extension of the program during the academic year 2022-23

Since the onset of the war in Ukraine we have been extremely concerned by the fate of our fellows and alumni who might be – and have been – exposed to it. We tried to intervene, be it with modest means, whenever and wherever we could. The extension granted to us by the Getty Foundation is a continuation of these small initiatives we could implement so far by using our own small resources. During the academic year 2022-23 we are inviting some among the scholars from Ukraine, Russia or Belarus, already connected with NEC, primarily through the Periodization seminar series, who find themselves in difficult circumstances as a result of the war, by offering them the position of NEC Fellows, by integrating them in the life of the College, and by covering some of the expenses entailed by their stay in Bucharest as our guests.

Anna ADASHINSKAYA, Fellow, Extension of the Periodization in the History of Art research program