Category: Announcements Page 4 of 6

Please save Thursday, Feb. 23 for the following:

Professor Renata Holod, University of Pennsylvania

“Lighting the Great Mosque of Cordoba:  A Digital Reconstruction of Vision and Memory for 10th century CE Interiors”

5:30 p.m., Temple University (specific location TBD)

Abstract: Intersecting polylobed arcades of Andalusia, whether in structural actuality or as ornamental designs, have been taken as geometric exercises within the setting of Umayyad and Taifa period productions, or later as markers of superior ‘Moorish’ craftsmanship on Iberian or Moroccan soil.  Yet, the roots for the genesis of these arcades and patterns may lie in an entirely different sector of experience. This paper proposes a different source for the genesis of these constructions, a source located within the experience, cognitive recall and the arts of memory.  Preparatory work for the study has been carried out and published with the Digital Media Design group of the School of Engineering, UPenn: http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1629&context=cis_papers. A subsequent iteration of this exploration with expanded and corrected results was developed through the UPenn School of Design. The version presented in this lecture is a further refinement on these results.

Please join us Monday, November 28th, for the next meeting of the Workshop in the History of Material Texts. We will convene at our usual time and place: 5:15pm in the Class of 1978 Pavilion in the Kislak Center on the 6th Floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.

Abstract: The printing revolution of the fifteenth century has informed interpretations of the large quantity of printed material that circulated in medieval Europe teleologically. With a focus on documentary authentication and sealing practices in Western Europe between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries, I propose to re-examine the usual conflation of printing and book by considering printing as a technology that marked many types of material supports, producing and reproducing diverse artifacts, many of which were central to medieval lives. I will argue that it was a process of manufacture, the act of imprinting, that imbued printed matter, sealed charters in particular, with their particular potency during the Middle Ages. The argument will be supported by attention to three distinct aspects of seal agency: the conception of the imprinted image as an achiropoietic object; the inherent properties of printed material and the metaphors thereby generated sublimating representation as presence; and the imprint, understood as a natural sign, which complicated the philosophical field of natural magic.

Brigitte Bedos-Rezak is Professor of History at New York University (NYU) and affiliate Professor at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. She is currently at work on a monograph devoted to Printed Matter in the Middle Ages, and on a special issue of issue of the journal, The Medieval Globe, devoted to Seals: Imprinting Matter, Exchanging Impressions.

If you have an interest in the application of digital humanities to medieval studies, please consider completing this survey and becoming part of the Digital Medievalist community if you aren’t already.

Hey Digital Medievalists!

We need your help.

In order to better understand what you are looking for as a member of the Digital Medievalist community, the DM Executive Board invites you to complete a survey to help us better understand your interests and the expectations. The results of the survey will help us shape community priorities as we prepare a new strategic vision for the community.

Please use the following link to participate in the survey: https://goo.gl/JFSkPQ

Note: This survey has already been issued during the executive board election last July. If you have already completed the survey, your answers have been saved and we award you a virtual gold star for your effort and support. Thank you! You do not need to fill it out again.

Many thanks,

The Digital Medievalist Executive Board:

Alberto Campagnolo, President

Emiliano Degl’Innocenti

Greta Franzini

Els De Paermentie

Franz Fischer

Mike Kestemont

Lynn Ransom

Dominique Stutzmann

Georg Vogeler

9th Annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age

November 17-19, 2016

Reactions: Medieval/Modern

In partnership with the Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Schoenberg Institute of Manuscript Studies (SIMS) at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries is pleased to announce the 9th Annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age. This year’s theme, “Reactions: Medieval/Modern,” gives us space to explore the many and varied ways that people have reacted to, and acted upon, manuscripts from the Middle Ages up to today. Reactions take many forms. They include the manipulation of physical objects through, for example, the marking up of texts, addition of illustrations, the disbinding of books or rebinding of fragments, as well as the manipulation of digital objects, thanks to new technologies involved in digitization, ink and parchment analysis, virtual reconstruction, among many other processes. This symposium will also tackle how popular culture has reacted to manuscripts over time as witnessed by their use and appearance in books, games, films, and tattoo art. Our keynote speaker will be Michelle P. Brown, Professor emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and former Curator of Manuscripts at the British Library.

For more information and to register, visit the website: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/ljs_symposium9.html.

Andrea Olsen Lam, “The Expectant Icon: Transformation and Ritual in Byzantium”

Andrea Olsen Lam, Instructor, Dept. of Art, Biola University specializes in the art and architecture of Christian pilgrimage, private devotional arts and the history of the medieval icon.

Date: Thursday, October 27 at 6:00 PM

Location: Temple University, Anderson Hall, Room 007

The event is free and open to the public: sponsored by the Department of Art History, Tyler School of Art and Temple University’s General Activities Fund.

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies is pleased to announce the following seminar to be given by our current Visiting Research Fellow, Dr. Aleksandra Bunčić.

Illuminating the Skies: Jews, Science and an Astronomical Anthology (LJS 57) in Medieval Catalonia

Thursday, October 27, 5:15-6:30 PM

Rm 625, 6th Floor, Kislak Center

This seminar explores the dissemination of scientific knowledge in medieval Spain through the lens of an extraordinary illuminated manuscript that is housed at the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies and catalogued as an astronomical anthology (LJS 57). Produced in the second half of the fourteenth century (c. 1361) in Catalonia, in Hebrew, this manuscript includes a collection of astronomical texts, a copy of a treatise on the calendar compiled for King Pedro IV of Aragon, works by the twelfth-century scientist Abraham Ibn Ezra, an introduction to astrology, and a Hebrew translation of Ptolemy’s Almagest. By examining this manuscript’s art historical, cultural, and local contexts, the seminar consider developments in book production, astronomical iconography, and the identities and roles of Jewish scientists in late medieval Spain. The manuscript will be on display throughout the seminar.

The seminar is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. For more information and to register, go to : http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/illuminating.html

Save

Save

Save

The Index of Christian Art is pleased to invite applications for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship for AY 2017-2018, with the possibility of renewal contingent on satisfactory performance.

Funded by a generous grant from the Kress Foundation, the Kress Postdoctoral Fellow will collaborate with permanent research and professional staff to develop taxonomic and research enhancements for the Index’s redesigned online application, which is set to launch in fall 2017. Salary is $60,000 plus benefits for a 12-month appointment, with a $2,500 allowance provided for scholarly travel and research. The Fellow will enjoy research privileges at Princeton Libraries as well as opportunities to participate in the scholarly life of the Index and the Department of Art & Archaeology.

The successful candidate will have a specialization in medieval art from any area or period; broad familiarity with medieval images and texts; a sound grasp of current trends in medieval studies scholarship; and a committed interest in the potential of digital resources to enrich work in art history and related fields. Strong foreign language and visual skills, the ability to work both independently and collaboratively after initial training, and a willingness to learn new technologies are highly desirable; previous experience in digital humanities, teaching, and/or library work is advantageous. Applicants must have completed all requirements for the PhD, including dissertation defense, before the start of the fellowship. Preference will be given to those whose subject expertise complements that of current Index staff.

Applications will be reviewed beginning January 15 and will continue until the position is filled. Applicants must apply on line at https://jobs.princeton.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/Welcome_css.jsp, submitting a C.V., a cover letter, a research statement, and the names and contact information of three references. The position is subject to the University’s background check policy.

The Index of Christian Art. Since 1917, the Index of Christian Art (https://ica.princeton.edu/) has provided a unique resource for the study of medieval art. Its systematic descriptive and visual documentation of iconographic subjects, originally conceived as a print archive but now undergoing full digitization, permits researchers to analyze imagery produced in eastern and western Europe throughout the “long Middle Ages.”

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Call for Papers

Center for Ancient Studies Graduate Conference: “Alcohol in the Ancient World”

Deadline for Submissions: December 1, 2016

Conference Date: February 24-25, 2017
Conference Location: Penn Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Host: Center for Ancient Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Organizer: Darren Ashby (NELC, University of Pennsylvania)
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Patrick McGovern (Penn Museum)

Penn’s Center for Ancient Studies invites proposals of papers from graduate students in any discipline who are engaged in the study of alcohol in the pre-modern world.

Beer, wine, and other fermented beverages have played an important role in the social, political, economic, and religious lives of humans for thousands of years. The embedded nature of alcohol in human societies makes it a productive locus for research on a wide range of topics. Possible subjects include the role of alcohol in:

    •    Production technologies and techniques
    •    Consumption practices and contexts
    •    Visual and literary culture
    •    Law
    •    Medicine
    •    The construction and negotiation of identity and gender
    •    Trade and political economy
    •    Ritual

Research on the prohibition of alcohol in pre-modern societies is also encouraged. Who is prohibited and why? When and where do these prohibitions apply? What do they entail? How are they enforced and how are they circumvented?

Applications should include a title and an abstract of no more than 250 words that summarizes the work, identifies the methodology, and states the primary conclusions. CAS encourages interdisciplinary research that utilizes multiple sources of evidence, including material culture, texts, iconography, experimental and ethnographic studies, and archaeometry.

Send all materials to cas.upenn@gmail.com with the subject heading CAS Abstract: APPLICANT NAME. Please include your affiliation in the body of the email. Deadline for abstracts is December 1, 2016. Applicants will be notified of the status of their paper by the middle of December.

The Center for Ancient Studies strives to bring together scholars from different disciplines engaged in the study of pre-modern cultures. Our Center aims to model an expansive and global vision of the study of the ancient world, spanning Greco-Roman cultures and the Near East but also pre-modern Asia, Africa, and the Americas. For more information see http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ancient/.