29th January 2026
This panel offers a geographically and chronologically broad, interdisciplinary framework for re-evaluating human and so-called non-human interactions and their environmental implications in the creative process. Informed by recent work by scholars including GiovanniAloi, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sugata Ray, and Merlin... Read More...29th January 2026
The nineteenth century saw profound transformations in how being and embodiment were figured across British culture. Art and science were at the forefront of these changes. As new forms of subjectivity were being formulated, the relationship between the self and... Read More...29th January 2026
Art histories of the late medieval and early modern periods have witnessed a global turn in recent decades. This full-day session seeks to bring together case studies from a wide variety of geographies and time periods to investigate approaches to... Read More...29th January 2026
First theorised in the early decades of the twentieth century, by filmmakers, artists and literary critics including Sergei Eisenstein (1928), Hans Richter (1940) and Alexandre Astruc (1948), the essay film emerged across disciplinary borders as a key form through which... Read More...29th January 2026
This panel invites reflection on the possibility of a situated feminist grammar in the context of Chinese art. While such a grammar has not yet been fully articulated, it may be emerging through historical, cultural, and artistic conditions specific to... Read More...29th January 2026
This session focuses on the stele—inscribed stone—as a transhistorical and transcultural medium, examining how it has been interpreted, mobilised, and embodied within diverse cultural and political contexts. We foreground its dual identity as both textual artefact and material object, attending... Read More...29th January 2026
Kettle’s Yard was the home of Jim and Helen Ede between 1957 and 1973, containing their collection of art, furniture, ceramics and other objects. The house and its contents were given to the University of Cambridge in 1966, after protracted... Read More...29th January 2026
Research on premodern portraits has traditionally focused on identifying the sitters and examining typological and stylistic developments. This includes the analysis of gestures, posture, clothing, attributes, and original frames. Yet, after centuries of research, the identities of countless portrayed individuals... Read More...29th January 2026
Maps have historically been used to delineate borders, yet artists return to maps to imagine, probe, and redraw border crossings. We consider art historical inquiries on artists’ works which utilize actual geographical maps or gestures at mapping as retracing movement.... Read More...29th January 2026
In this age of instant messaging and sound bites, slow and close looking seem antithetical to our fast-paced culture. Much of the information we receive is often quickly perceived, reduced to catchy slogans, and lacks in-depth analyses. These speedy approaches... Read More...29th January 2026
Jokes reveal deeply held collective ideas about national identity, gender, race, and class. Although they can be wielded as a cudgel by the majority, caricature and parody can also be powerful subversive tools in the soft armory of the oppressed,... Read More...29th January 2026
Irish women artists have long forged influential paths beyond Ireland, pursuing their careers in defiance of social, cultural, and political barriers. From Parisian academies and London art schools to contemporary biennials and digital platforms, they built diasporic feminist networks that... Read More...29th January 2026
From the revival of ikat weaving as a national brand in Uzbekistan to the appropriation of embroidered folk costumes by extremist politicians in Eastern Europe, traditional textiles are often employed as effective visual representations of national identity. Premised on claims... Read More...29th January 2026
Women art collectors have frequently been overshadowed by their husbands or fathers, with their contributions relegated to a lesser-known aspect of a shared familial pursuit. The proposed session seeks to transcend mere acknowledgement of female contributions to the history of... Read More...29th January 2026
Chinatown represents a crucial space in the global circulation of Chinese culture. From Chinese cafés across Europe and the US to barrios chinos in Latin America and the Caribbean, these enclaves have long functioned as sites of both cultural adaptation... Read More...29th January 2026
How did Britain visualise its Empire? Perhaps, through its picturesque depictions of landscape. 2025 marks the 250th birth anniversary of J.M.W. Turner, generating a host of exhibitions celebrating Turner’s picturesque navigations of British and Imperial terrain (think India and Wales).... Read More...29th January 2026
Ecocriticism—that is, critical approaches to understanding the interconnection of terrestrial beings, elements, forces, and systems—has become a significant dynamic in art history over the past decades. This development has progressed in different ways within various areas of art history, and... Read More...29th January 2026
In recent decades, protests against corporate patronage have erupted in the galleries of Britain’s museums, making international headlines. Interventions by groups such as Art Not Oil, Liberate Tate, and Prescription Addiction Intervention Now have demanded that institutions confront the relationship... Read More...29th January 2026
Animals occupied a multivalent space in the medieval world. As part of nature, they were embedded in ecological systems, yet they were also abstracted into symbols of power, religious allegory, and medicinal knowledge—ultimately serving as a nexus between human societies... Read More...29th January 2026
Founded in London in 1974, Artists for Democracy (AFD) brought together a group of international artists and activists, including Cecilia Vicuña, John Dugger, David Medalla, and Guy Brett. The collective aimed to support liberation movements across Asia, Africa, and Latin... Read More...Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved