FIRST ANNUAL ART AND ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY GRADUATE SYMPOSIUM
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22nd & SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 23rd 2006

The Graduate Program in the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Virginia is seeking papers that explore societal responses to catastrophic change, focusing on shifts in activities and attitudes in the aftermath. Catastrophe can encompass such disparate concepts as natural disasters, invasion, and apocalypse as well as psychological and social breakdowns and economic collapse. Papers may incorporate ideas of reconstruction, commemoration, tabula rasa, ruins, preservation, and rebirth and should be rooted in spatial, historical, art historical, or literary analysis. Possible themes include but are not limited to: the redevelopment of Rome after the fire of 64 AD; cultural responses to 9/11 outside the U.S.A.; Medieval urban planning during the Black death; retrospective depictions of the French revolution; and artistic reconstruction after the Cultural Revolution in China.

Papers are welcome from graduate students working in all disciplines and historical periods, Western and non-Western. A one-page abstract, without identifying information, and curriculum vitae are due by May 1, 2006. Please include a separate cover page with your name, paper title, e-mail address, phone number, university department, and departmental address.