Patterning Worlds: Non-Figurative Art in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Non-figurative art encompasses visual systems built on repetition, simplification and abstraction. From concentric circles to angular patterns and linear diagrams, these forms have been used across cultures to structure space, convey relationships and generate complex visual experiences. While differing in execution and cultural setting, geometric, schematic and abstract strategies often co-exist with figuration, offering alternative ways to perceive, organise and convey knowledge.

We seek to explore how non-figurative forms operate within broader aesthetic and cultural contexts. Topics might include (but are not limited to) the design principles underlying ‘abstract’ compositions, the role of non-figurative motifs in ritual, political or spatial settings, and how viewers cognitively process and interpret these visual systems.

We welcome proposals that explore cross-cultural case studies—such as Indigenous North American beadwork and quillwork, Mesoamerican ceramics, Andean textiles, Kuba textiles and masks from Central Africa, early medieval and modern European patterning traditions including Celtic knot designs and Byzantine ornament, Islamic tilework, Indian mandalas and yantras, Chinese bronzes with repetitive surface motifs, Japanese Zen gardens, Aboriginal Australian paintings, and Oceanic barkcloth, tattooing and navigational charts. These and many other examples show how non-figurative forms emerge in multiple cultural settings, shaped by particular histories and aesthetic frameworks, and provide opportunities to explore new interpretive possibilities and how such visual systems operate across time, geography and media.

This session welcomes 20-minute papers followed by 5-minute discussions from scholars in art history, anthropology, archaeology and related fields. It aims to foster dialogue on the capacities of non-figurative art to shape perception, organise social and ritual space, and articulate cultural frameworks.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Sanja Savkic Sebek, Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (University of East Anglia), S.Savkic-Sebek@uea.ac.uk

Bat-ami Artzi, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art), bartzi@museoprecolombino.cl

Felipe Armstrong, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art), farmstrong@museoprecolombino.c l