Summer school „Art history in the Cold War. Methods, scope of interests, systems of values”
Date, place: September 7 to 14, 2014, Marburg, Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe
Organizer: Chair of Art History of East Central Europe (Prof. Dr. Michaela Marek) at the Institute of Art and Visual History of the Humboldt University Berlin in cooperation with the Herder Institute and international project partners Application deadline: May 15, 2014 A comparative historical analysis of art historiography in the era of the Cold War is still an unfulfilled desideratum of the history of the humanities. While the ideologically filtered perception of modern art and its exegetes have been extensively explored in the USA, and in return the corresponding “policies” of the USSR and its satellites in the conflicts of systems have gained increasing attention in the last years, studies in art historiography dealing with older art works and monuments in this context are almost completely lacking. Here it must be assumed that the epistemological interests of the discipline and the systems of values implied therein as well as its methods were subject to variations depending on the development of the socio-cultural and political climate in the decades between the end of the Second World War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. What were the effects of the Communist ideology, as a complex nexus of components and given its transformations in socialist states over the decades, on the determination of thematic priorities, on issues and analytical methods of art history? What were the conceptual and methodological means used by art historians to integrate historic buildings difficult to reconcile with the Communist ideology, such as sacred buildings or palaces, into their subject area – and thus into the respective “national cultural heritage”? How were they communicated to an audience which was to be instructed about them, and how did popular publishing in the field of art history relate to academic research and vice versa? Which spaces for reflection and interpretation could scholars create for themselves? It must be assumed that on the other side of the Iron Curtain art history did not act entirely independently from political parameters and (partly politically charged) traditions of historiography. Hence, “Western” research requires a reflection within historical contexts, so that it is not established as a virtually neutral standard functioning as a role model of the discipline in the Socialist East. Finally, the mutual perception and stimulation – in a positive as well as a negative sense – demands attention. These issues form the core of the international research project “Asymmetrical Art history? Research and mediation of ‘precarious’ monuments in the Cold War” which is based at the Institute of Art and Visual History of the Humboldt University Berlin (Chair of Art History of East Central Europe) and in the frame of which the summer school will take place. To ensure comparability, the main focus is set on Baroque architecture and art, an epoch whose perception particularly in Central Europe had multiple burdens to bear. In the research-oriented summer school “Art History in the Cold War” strategies of academic evaluation and communication in popular media of Baroque monuments will be analysed collectively on the basis of select examples from different countries. We will focus on methods of critical analysis of texts and images, as well as on the comparison of complex and somewhat paradoxical attitudes towards cultural monuments (in Socialist states: not in conformity with the system) in the light of the respective national interpretations of history and the current political-cultural identity. The summer school is organised in cooperation with international project partners from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia. Our aim is to bring together young scholars on an international and interdisciplinary level and to raise awareness of a critical discourse on ideologies with regard to the history of the discipline in the network of relations during the Cold War. The venue will be the Herder Institute in Marburg, one of the most important research institutions in Germany, which with its archives and its specialised library offers the perfect setting for the summer school. The summer school will be structured by seminar blocks with different topics and teams who will focus on the substantial visual and written source material available on site. In addition, external specialists will be invited to give evening lectures. In preparation of and as a basis for the sessions, a reader will be prepared and made available. We expect you to prepare a text presentation as well as a short paper presenting the research of a baroque building or art work. Since the conference languages are German and English, sufficient language skills in both languages are required. The organisers will bear the expenses for accommodation, food, and some travel costs. Please send us your application including a letter of motivation (max. one manuscript page) and a short CV by 15 May, 2014. Please send your proposals as well as queries to: Renata Choinka, E-mail: choinka@hu-berlin.de Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte Postadresse: Unter den Linden 6, D – 10099 Berlin Sitz: Georgenstraße 47, 10117 Berlin http://www.kunstgeschichte.hu-berlin.de/forschung/laufende-forschungsprojekte/asymmetrische-kunstgeschichte/