CFP: Art History session @ ICMS Kalamazoo: Unfinished, Damaged, Reimagined: Rethinking the Fragment
- Region: International
- Type: Conference
- Cost: Free
The following is a CFP for a sponsored hybrid session at the 2027 International Congress on Medieval Studies, held 13–15 May 2027 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The sponsoring organization is AVISTA (Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art); for more information on the society, see their website: avista.org.
Hybrid Session (#8645)–Unfinished, Damaged, Reimagined: Rethinking the Fragment
Rarely do material traces of the premodern world survive without damage or alteration. In response, the fragment has emerged in recent years as a productive theoretical framework for understanding the present condition of medieval objects, buildings, and archives. AVISTA’s emphasis has long been on the intersection of medieval art, craft, and technology. In line with this focus, this session seeks papers which present new case studies of the fragment. This includes medieval objects or buildings which have either been reconstructed or, in their current state, are incomplete or damaged. We also seek to broaden discussion of the medieval fragment to include works abandoned in process, or those which were not finished following their original plan. While this concept has gained traction in manuscript studies, the notion of the unfinished has been less discussed in architecture, even though there are many prominent examples (the cathedrals of Beauvais, Narbonne, and Siena, to name a few). We invite interdisciplinary papers, representing all disciplines and geographies, to take up unfinished, damaged, or reimagined medieval objects.
Speakers may discuss, for example, repaired or transformed objects, architecture that was never completed or has since been lost, as well as medieval and modern efforts to complete the fragment. Objects, topics, and methodologies may include but are not limited to:
Digital twins and reconstructions of lost objects and buildings
Repair techniques and materials (such as lead, mortar, etc.)
Abandoned or incomplete building campaigns
Objects which incorporate found material, such as cameos, gems, or crystals
Relics or their traces, such as relic labels or scraps of textile
Manuscript fragmentology
Case studies of building damage caused by fire, natural disasters, or structural collapse
Spolia or other objects removed from their original context
Examination of polychromy
Reuse of building materials, such as stone, timber, or lead
Broken and/or repaired sculpture
Archaeological finds including pieces of textile, metalwork, or ceramic
For additional information, including selected bibliography, please see the AVISTA website. All abstracts must be submitted by September 15, 2026 through the ICMS Confex portal: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2027/prelim.cgi/Session/8645. Interested presenters should email the organizers, Tori Schmitt (torischmitt@ucla.edu) and Gabriela Chitwood (gabriela.chitwood@gmail.com), if questions arise.