CFP: Migration of artists and architects (Riga, 26-28 Sep 19)

Art Academy of Latvia, Riga, September 26 – 28, 2019
Deadline: May 10, 2019

International Conference
“The Migration of Artists and Architects in Central and Northern Europe 1560–1900”

The aim of the conference is to explore research and interpretative problems of the intertwined processes of art and historical migration of artists and architects in Central and Northern Europe. Still in recent past, these processes were studied by some national institutions of art and culture as either local and individual cases or a secondary issue in the context of other thematic researches, not as a Europe-wide phenomenon of a certain epoch. In the last decades, in-depth studies of artists’ and architects’ migration processes in Central and Northern Europe during the early modern period have emerged. Activities and significance of so far little-known artists and workshops have been recognised, replacing a narrow, local view with wider contextual approaches. Building a broader, interconnected informational network creates an additional instrument for art-historical exploration that allows seeing cultural processes of a particular epoch from an expanded perspective and obtaining new conclusions from various aspects.
The conference will focus on a broad spectrum of topics related to the artistic and architectural heritage of the modern period, its masters, consumers, cultural agents as well as routes of export and trade of cultural goods.
The conference especially welcomes latest studies and conclusions about the art market and export of the period, structure and capacity of masters’ workshops, artists’ migration routes and models in the European context.

We invite papers from academics, researchers and doctoral students. The submissions which explore the following themes and topics are welcome:
1. Routes of artists’ migration
– General tendencies and factors promoting the phenomenon of artists’ migration.
– Specific examples characterising the mobility of particular individuals as well as the geography and development of entire workshops in their countries of residence.

2. Centres of influence and peripheries 
– Migration as a phenomenon encouraging the transfer of artistic innovations and style, emphasising the range of formal traits from the most influential paradigms to vernacular manifestations.
– Examples and followers: trends and differences in the output of particular workshops and masters, considering the connections between their geographical location and examples used.

3. Methodological issues of studying artists’ migration; art market and commissioners
– The role of interdisciplinary research in establishing the art market tendencies.
– Geographical spread of artistic products.
– Consumers and artists: from masterpieces to commodities.

4. Workshops and building materials
– Market and transport network of building materials. 
– Innovations in building and sculptural materials as a phenomenon of inter-regional connections.

Keynote speakers:
Prof. Dr. Konrad A. Ottenheym, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Lipińska,  Department of Art History of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Univeristy in Munich

Conference language is English. The papers should not exceed 20 minutes, to be followed by a 10-minute discussion.

Submissions of abstracts:
Abstracts from 300 to 400 words in length and a brief CV (max 150 words), should be sent to: Dr. Anna Ancāne, Institute of Art History, Art Academy of Latvia, Riga: anna.ancane@lma.lv  by May 10, 2019.

Please include the following details:
– Your title, full name and current affiliation (if applicable).
– Both your email and postal address.

The selection of contributions will be made by May 31, 2019.

Programme Committee:
Prof. Dr. Eduards Kļaviņš, Institute of Art History, Art Academy of Latvia
Prof. Dr. Krista Kodres, Institute of Art History, Estonian Academy of Arts
Dr. Anna Ancāne, Institute of Art History, Art Academy of Latvia