The Materials of Modern Sculpture
A one-day graduate student symposium
Saturday, February 4, 2006
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT
This one-day graduate student symposium will address the materials of modern sculpture and changing conceptions of the sculptural object from 1945 to the present.
In conjunction with the Yale University Art Gallery, the Center is holding this symposium to address the very nature of the sculptural object. We will examine the physical materials from which sculptures are made—both the expansion of sculptural material from 1945 to the present and new uses of traditional materials such as marble and bronze—and the ways in which the consideration of material reconceptualizes the sculptural object.
This investigation will not focus solely on British art, and we welcome papers on European and American topics. We invite interpretations of this theme as 30-minute papers from graduate students working on all aspects of the arts and humanities as well as conservation. Cross-disciplinary approaches are particularly welcome. Topics may include but are not restricted to:
problems of display and the ways in which sculpture occupies space
problems concerning the conservation of materials
shifting conceptions of the sculptural object and the consequences for spectatorship
the economics and infrastructure of sculpture production
changing ideas about monuments and memorialization
sculpture and temporality, works that are meant to change over time (such as those by Andy Goldsworthy and Anja Gallacio) and those that are not (Marc Quinn’s defrosted blood sculpture)
the development of new materials for sculpture
the meaning of marble and bronze after 1945
the ways in which traditional materials and techniques accommodate radical reconceptions of sculpture and its position in the public sphere (for example in the work of Barry Flanagan or Elizabeth Frink)
The program will include discussion sessions with curators, conservators, and practicing artists. The day will draw to its close with a keynote lecture.
Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words to Morna O’Neill, Research Department, Yale Center for British Art, PO Box 208280, New Haven, CT 06520-8280 or to morna.oneill@yale.edu by September 30, 2005.
Limited travel funds for speakers are available upon application.
Support for this symposium has been generously provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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