2 sections, Forum for the History of Italian Art “ITALY!” (Munich, 12-15 Mar 25)
[1] The GDR and Italy
[2] The latest trend – On the relationship between human animal studies and Italian studies
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[1] The GDR and Italy.
From: Laura Rosengarten, rosengarten @ub.uni-leipzig.de
Date: July 25, 2024
Deadline: September 8, 2024
The Cold War, the rivalry between East and West, the strict security of the German-German border between 1961 and 1989, and the limited travel opportunities to "capitalist countries" have for a long time obscured the fact that there was a great deal of exchange between Italy and the GDR in the field of art history. The connections required for this have their roots in the pre-war period, but also in the years before the Wall was built, when there was a lively cultural-political exchange between the GDR and several Western states, especially Italy. This began with the preparations for the "World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace", which took place in East Berlin in the summer of 1951. As part of this, the German Academy of Arts organized an international art exhibition in its premises on Robert Koch Square. A total of 32 countries took part in the exhibition. Italy was represented with a particularly large number of works of art, travelled with a large delegation, and the architect and painter Gabriele Mucchi presented his ideas of committed realism for discussion in a lecture at the Academy of Arts.
In addition to Gabriele Mucchi, a few well-known contacts and collaborations are mentioned: relatively frequent or at least occasional trips to Italy are documented for Rudolf Bergander, Walter Womacka, Willi Sitte, Werner Tübke and Hartwig Ebersbach, Italian subjects in particular for Willi Sitte and Werner Tübke. The works of Lea Grundig, Volker Stelzmann, Ulrich Hachulla, Heinz Zander and Werner Tübke were exhibited in Italy. In the field of art historical research, particular attention was paid to Leonardo da Vinci and the Italian Renaissance. In addition, the editorial staff of the Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (formerly Thieme/Becker) worked closely with Italy.
For the session "The GDR and Italy" as part of the Forum for the History of Italian Art 2025: "ITALY!" we invite topic suggestions that aim to take a closer look at the hitherto little-researched topic of "The GDR and Italy". The presentations should last a maximum of 20 minutes.
Topic proposals include a CV (300 characters) and an abstract (1,500 characters) in German, Italian or English. Please add all information in a PDF file and send it to rosengarten @ by September 8, 2024.ub.uni-leipzig.de (Laura Rosengarten) or to zoellner @uni-leipzig.de (Frank Zöllner).
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[2] The latest craze – On the relationship between human animal studies and Italian research.
From: Anna Frasca-Rath, anna.frasca-rath @fau.de and Katharina Bedenbender, katharina.bedenbender @hu-berlin.de
Date: July 25, 2024
Deadline: September 15, 2024
The section explores the extent to which art-historically relevant questions for Italian studies (of the early modern period and beyond) can be developed from Human Animal Studies (HAS).
An animal turn has been proclaimed for philosophy, cultural studies and literary studies over the last 25 years, which has led, among other things, to the establishment of Human Animal Studies in these disciplines. The philosophical prerequisites range from Deleuze and Guattari's Mille Plateaux, to Derrida's cat, John Berger's Why Look at animals?, Donna Haraway's Companion Species, and the works of Harriet Ritvo and Bruno Latour. Art history has the reputation of being a latecomer in the history of turns, with the animal turn involving the consistent continuation of post-colonial thought processes: the individual disciplines have learned to question Western-Eurocentric basic assumptions, but have so far inadequately reflected on their anthropocentric basic assumptions. Ullrich (2015) noted a contradiction in the fact that early modern art overwhelmingly turned to animals and plants, but that art history did not read them as beings with intrinsic value, but always only with regard to human concerns, as symbols with predefined meaning - keyword agency. Despite important contributions such as those by Cockram and Bowd (Literature Studies, 2017), Hengerer and Weber (History/Cultural Studies, 2019), and especially Cohen (Art History, 2021), this is particularly true for German-language research on Italy.
Is a reflected anthropocentrism the only option left for us to bridge the gap between human and non-human animals? If we understand art history as a historical discipline, then it is first of all necessary to historicize not only human-animal relationships, but also the view of animals, starting from the Aristotelian theory of the soul, through the Cartesian paradigm, the industrialization processes of the 19th century to the 6th great mass extinction of our present day; HAS are ultimately a consequence of posthumanism and the global climate crisis and transcend disciplinary boundaries.
The section would like to focus on current trends in HAS in art historical research on Italy and is also interested in contributions from the related plant studies. The research field of HAS is broadly defined as the analysis and reconstruction of historical human-animal relationships, insofar as they can be seen in works of architecture and the arts in the broadest sense. Contributions could include, for example, human-animal relationships in the early modern period, migration of non-human animals and plants, or the materiality of plants and non-human animals.
We request contributions of 20 minutes in length in German or English that clearly relate to the interrelationship between Italian research and human animal or plant studies.
Proposals (max. 400 words) can be submitted until 15 September 2024 together with a short CV (max. 150 words) to Katharina Bedenbender (katharina.bedenbender @hu-berlin.de) and Anna Frasca-Rath (anna.frasca-rath @fau.de).
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The Last Cry – On the Relationship between Human Animal Studies and Italian Studies.
The section aims to explore how Human Animal Studies (HAS) might be used to develop art-historically relevant questions regarding Italian studies (in the early modern period and beyond).In the last 25 years, the disciplines of philosophy, cultural studies and literary studies proclaimed an animal turn, which has led to the establishment of Human Animal Studies in these fields. The philosophical foundations embrace diverse approaches, such as Deleuze and Guattari's Mille Plateaux, Derrida's encounter with his cat, John Berger's Why Look at Animals?, Donna Haraway's Companion Species and the works of Harriet Ritvo and Bruno Latour.
Art history has the reputation of being a latecomer in the history of 'turns'. The animal turn involves a consistent continuation and progression of post-colonial thinking: while the individual disciplines have learned to question their inherent Western-Eurocentric assumptions, they have not yet sufficiently reflected on their fundamental anthropocentric approach. Ullrich (2015) noted a contradiction in the fact that non-human animals and plants are at the heart of early modern art, yet, art history failed to see them as creatures with intrinsic value, but exclusively in terms of human concerns, as predefined symbols – keyword agency. Despite important contributions such as those by Cockram and Bowd (literary studies, 2017), Hengerer and Weber (history/cultural studies, 2019), and especially Cohen (art history, 2021), this remains largely a desideratum in German-speaking art history .
Are we left with a reflective anthropocentrism to bridge the gap between human and non-human animals? If we define art history as a historical discipline, it is necessary to historicize not only human-animal relations, but also the perspectives on “the animal”, beginning with Aristotle's theory of the soul, and continuing through the Cartesian paradigm, the industrialization processes of the nineteenth century to the sixth great mass extinction of our times; HAS are ultimately the consequence of posthumanism and the global climate crisis and therefore transcend disciplinary boundaries.The section will focus on current trends in HAS in art-historical research on Italy and is also interested in contributions from the closely related field of plant studies. The research field of HAS is broadly defined as the analysis and reconstruction of historical human-animal relationships, as they can be seen in works of art and architecture. Papers may include, but are not limited to, early modern human-animal-relations, migrating non-human animals and plants, the materiality of plants and non-human animals.
We are looking for contributions in German or English of 20 minutes in length, that clearly relate to possible interconnections of Italian Studies and Human Animal or Plant Studies.
Proposals (max. 400 words) can be submitted until September 15, 2024 together with a short CV (max. 150 words) to Katharina Bedenbender (katharina.bedenbender @hu-berlin.de) and Anna Frasca-Rath (anna.frasca-rath @fau.de).
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