The Material Collective

A collaborative of art historians and students of visual culture

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As a collaborative of art historians and students of visual culture, Material Collective seeks to foster a safe space for alternative ways of thinking about objects.

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From the Manifesto

We are the Material Collective, a group of medievalists interrogating visual materials. We seek to cooperate, encourage, share, promote transparency, touch, desire, destabilize, amuse, and blunder.

Our specific interests vary, but we are all committed to prioritizing the materiality of things, the relationships between those things and the human beings who experience them, and the intimacy of past and present moments in time.

We strive for transparency in our practice, and we encourage the same in our institutional surroundings.

“As we celebrate, dwell in, and embrace the basic materiality of our objects, we work to find ways to foreground the material of the objects themselves into larger historical analysis.

Unacceptable Harassment of Colleagues

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It has been brought to our attention that a photo taken at #kzoo2018 is being used to harass individuals in that photo. The image was tweeted before the announcement not to tweet was made, and we have deleted it. We ask that anyone who may have retweeted it please delete it as well. We understand […]

Kalamazoo 2018

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We’re excited for another busy medieval weekend in Kalamazoo! Here’s what the Material Collective is up to at the 2018 International Congress on Medieval Studies.