Imagine a packed meeting room at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo; so packed that people are sitting on the floors, filling up the aisles, and peering in from the doors.
On Speculative Touch
3Touch is the elusive one. I can amplify sight, evoke viewing conditions (a candle flickers, making shadows dance) that suggest sounds and smells and even tastes (the Eucharist is but bread), but to tell my students to imagine the feel of ivory, its weight and warmth, only increases the distance I seek to diminish between them and the work of art.
Angst in the A.M.
8This blog post had its origin in early morning anxiety over what to do with my course on Gothic art, which I am scheduled to teach in the spring. I found myself yawning and wondering, Why? Why am I teaching a course in Gothic?
Exposed
4I’ve had an obsession with the work of Kiki Smith for some time. I think it was always there, nascent since my first introductory art history course decades ago, but really flourished after I saw a retrospective of her work at SFMOMA in 2005.
The Eyes of a Scholar, the Eyes of a Believer
20Scholars feel like they need distance from a topic in order to work on it. But is it possible to be too far removed?
Material Collective@BABEL 2012
5In Boston, we gathered the hordes to think together about fragmentation and collectivity, time and matter, art and bodies.
On the Hunterian Museum, London
5We read of (and experience) the joys and titillations of wonder, but less often do we read of the shock and horror of the dissected corpses.
UPDATED: Three Calls for Papers, Kalamazoo Medieval Congress, May 9-12, 2013
0Details on the ICMA and Material Collective sponsored sessions at Kalamazoo.
Thoughts on Vibrant Materiality: Finding Meaning in my Secular World
7Bennett’s book and the concept of vibrant materiality have brought a new significance to my life and work.
Upcoming Material Collective Events
0Upcoming Material Collective events, including two sessions at the BABEL meeting in Boston in September. Plus, highlights of some past events.