[MGSA-L] Call for Papers: Epigrams on Art in Byzantium, Kalamazoo 2015

[Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture]

Please post the following CFP to the MGSA listserv.

Many
​ thanks,

Brandie Ratliff
Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture
Hellenic College Holy Cross
50 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445, USA
E-mail: mjcbac at hchc.edu
Tel: + 617 850 1242
www.maryjahariscenter.org
Follow us:
@mjcbac <https://twitter.com/mjcbac>
facebook.com/maryjahariscenter

​***​
Call for Papers: Epigrams on Art in Byzantium, Kalamazoo 2015
Organizer and presider: Dr. Ivan Drpić, University of Washington, Seattle
Sponsor: Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture

Papers are invited for *Epigrams on Art in Byzantium*, a Mary Jaharis
Center sponsored session at the 50th International Congress on Medieval
Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 14–17, 2015.

The cohabitation and synergy of the physical object and the inscribed verse
was a common facet of daily life in Byzantium. From monumental architecture
to pieces of jewelry, seals, and even coins, a range of Byzantine objects
bore verse inscriptions, or epigrams. While philologists and literary
historians have furthered our understanding of Byzantine epigrammatic
poetry in recent years, art historians have only begun to integrate the
evidence of epigrams in the study of Byzantine art, aesthetics, and
material culture. There is a great deal to be learned from engaging with
this tremendously rich yet lamentably understudied evidence. How does the
epigram inflect, transform, and empower the object it accompanies? How does
it frame or guide the viewer’s sensorial, cognitive, and emotional
responses? If poetic inscriptions, as scholars have convincingly argued,
were commonly read aloud by the Byzantines, how does the experience of the
epigram as performed speech affect the viewer’s interaction with the
object? What is the ritual dimension of inscribed verse and how may it
relate to liturgical rites, commemorative prayers, solemn vows, or magical
incantations? What is the agency of poetic inscriptions beyond verbal
communication? What role does the visual aspect, materiality, and spatial
presentation of the written word play in making the inscription “legible”?
How does the epigram function as a social tool, a site for the construction
of identity for the object’s commissioner, donor, or maker? Can we speak
about an epigrammatic discourse on art, and if yes, how does this discourse
interact with or differ from the discourses on art formulated in theology
and rhetoric? This session seeks contributions that take a fresh and
penetrating look at the complex interplay between art and epigrammatic
poetry in Byzantine culture.

Paper proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website (
http://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/50th-international-congress-on-medieval-studies/).
The deadline for submission is *September 15, 2014*. Proposals should
include:
-Proposed paper title
-Paper abstract (about 300 words)
-CV

Successful applicants will be notified by October 1, 2014.

The Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse session participants up to $500
maximum for US residents and up to $1000 maximum for those coming abroad.
Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided.
Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food
and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement.

Please contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac at hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis
Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.
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