ASSOCIATION of ART HISTORIANS CONFERENCE 2020
NEWCASTLE APRIL 1-3 2020
DEADLINE Monday October 21 2019
The marine emerged as a pictorial genre in Europe in the early modern age. Painters turned their eyes to the sea, to ships, coasts and harbour scenes, while European maritime commercial networks extended their reach across the oceans. In the 20th century, the standardisation of containers in maritime transportation induced a separation of port-cities and their inhabitants from port infrastructures. The perception of the maritime realm and the identities of port cities significantly changed, as aerial channels took over passenger transportation, while former inner-city harbours were converted into leisure areas away from the seas’ silent economic machinery.
In parallel, hybrid forms and narratives in artistic practices emerged with the capacity to interrogate the cultural and industrial textures underlying our present interconnected world. This session aims to look at the production of hybrid marines, inviting papers engaging with maritime representations in the visual arts. Hybridity opens two (potentially overlapping) paths of enquiry into the marine: first a hybridity in form, considering how practitioners exploring maritime realms have developed new formats, new techniques, and new strategies transcending traditional medium boundaries; the session will aim to reflect on the specificity of these formal researches as they pertain to the maritime. Second, a representational hybridity, investigating the extent to which seascapes could integrate multifocal points of view, as opposed to more traditional linear perspectives. In this vein, the session aims to reflect on the criticality of the contemporary marine, in its capacity to unfold maritime heritage and discourses, as well as draw alternate imaginaries for the present.
To submit a proposal, please email Gabriel Gee & Bryan Biggs by October 21, 2019
Gabriel Gee (Franklin University, Switzerland & TETI Group – Textures and Experiences of Trans-Industriality) ggee@fus.edu
Bryan Biggs (Bluecoat, Liverpool) bryan.b@thebluecoat.org.uk
