The Implications of Time: Time and Temporalities in Medieval Artistic and Musical Culture

CFP: International Workshop
(New York/Princeton, Nov. 3–5, 2022)

Organizers:
Anne-Orange Poilpré (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Susan Boynton (Columbia University)
Beatrice Kitzinger (Princeton University)
Jamie Reuland (Princeton University)

The notion of time has emerged in both medieval art history and musicology as a key category for understanding works of art in their historical and cultural contexts. Collective contributions such as Traditions et temporalités des images (ed. G. Careri and F. Lissarrague and J.C. Schmitt, Paris, 2009), Les représentations de la musique au Moyen Âge (ed. M. Clouzot, Paris, 2009), Meaning in Motion: The Semantics of Movement in Medieval Art (ed. N. Zchomelidse and G. Freni, Princeton, 2011), and Resounding Images (ed. S. Boynton and D. J. Reilly, Turnhout, 2015), have highlighted the relevance of temporality to musical, graphic, and plastic productions in the Middle Ages. A burgeoning corpus of studies based in various disciplines, geographies, and eras explores time and temporality as intrinsic dimensions of the visual, material, and compositional discourse of works of art.

This graduate workshop investigates the notion of time as a fundamental dimension in the various artistic expressions of the Middle Ages. It offers doctoral candidates in a variety of fields (e.g., art history, history, literature, musicology, and philosophy) the opportunity to reflect on the impact of this historiography and the temporal theme for their work, and engage an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in discussing how different dimensions of time and temporality factor in their own interpretations of medieval material. Themes such as “narrative,” “division,” “ritual time,” “performance,” “commemoration,” “secula and eschaton” will serve as transversal links to organize a collective methodological reflection on ongoing doctoral work based in diverse disciplines and sectors of the medieval world.

Organization of the workshop

The workshop will be held in Princeton and New York and will last three days.

On the first day, we will meet in New York for exploration of major medieval collections. The second two days convene in Princeton, and consist in pairs of presentations and responses by students and faculty, plus a workshop and evening concert with the ensemble ModernMedieval.

Papers will be pre-circulated to all the participants. Each student will give a research presentation of 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute response from a faculty member. There will be 15 minutes for general discussion and questions after each presentation and response. All the students will thus have the opportunity both to present their research and to respond to the presentation of another participant.

The workshop is sponsored by Alliance and the LUDUS Working Group at Princeton University. Participants’ travel and lodging will be covered; the workshop includes lunch and dinner on the three days.

Application deadline: Monday, May 2, 2022

Applications consist of the following materials:

1. A ca. 3-page application essay, providing a summary of the proposed paper that clearly indicates its contribution to the interdisciplinary workshop's focus on the notion of time, speaks to the proposed paper’s methodology, and addresses the relationship of the paper to the applicant’s doctoral work. A bibliography should be appended (one file, please).

Applications can be in English or French.

2. A curriculum vitae (one file)

Columbia students: please send applications by email to Prof. Susan Boynton ([email protected])

Applicants will be notified in June 2022 about their participation.

Accepted applicants must write their papers and send them with illustrations to the organizers before October 1, 2022. The texts should be limited to about 3200 words (not including footnotes).

The organizers may ask participants to revise their paper between October 1^st and November 1^st.