Call for Papers – Brancusi: The Philosophy of Form

Venue: “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu, Romania
Dates: 22–26 October 2026

This international symposium celebrates Constantin Brâncuşi’s legacy on the 150th anniversary of his birth, and invites an international delegation of scholars, artists and museum professionals to share new perspectives on his life and work.

The symposium has been organised by “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu and Târgu Jiu Town Hall under the patronage of the President of Romania and partners UNESCO and Kettle’s Yard, the University of Cambridge.

Titled Brâncuşi: The Philosophy of Form, the conference will explore what Brâncuşi’s work has meant through time. It asks contributors to grapple with a central contradiction of Brâncuşi’s work and reception. While the sculptor was ambivalent about the written word, his sculpture has always provided a deep reservoir of philosophical, poetic and critical speculation. This has been especially true in Brâncuşi’s native Romania, from the era of Mircea Eliade to the present day, but also in the reception of his work around the world.

Within this overarching theme, the symposium will bring together an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars, museum professionals and artists. By exploring archives, previously untranslated texts, analysis of objects in international collections and underrepresented artistic practices, the symposium aims to inform a new era of scholarship on Brâncuşi connected subject areas within twentieth-century Romanian culture and international modernism.

Panels and keynote speeches will be held at “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu, close to the sculptural ensemble that represents Brâncuşi’s culminating work. The programme also includes visits to the site of Brâncuşi’s birth and memorial house museum in Hobița, the seminal works in the collection of Muzeul de Artă Craiova.

The symposium’s scientific committee is headed by Dr Jonathan Vernon, a Brâncuşi specialist and former Associate Lecturer at The Courtauld Institute of Art and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Leonard A. Lauder Center for Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Please send a 300-word abstract to brancusi150@gmail.com by 20 August 2026. Speakers will be notified by 11th September.

For more information, please see the conference website: https://icdi.utgjiu.ro/filosofia-formei/