Collecting “China”: Objects, Materiality, and Multicultural Collectors
Interdisciplinary Conference at U. Delaware and Winterthur Museum, funded by Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Department of Art History, University of Delaware, and Winterthur Museum and Country Estate
The Department of Art History at the University of Delaware and Winterthur Museum and Country Estate will co-host an interdisciplinary conference, "Collecting 'China': Objects, Materiality, and Multicultural Collectors” on September 29-30, 2006. The conference’s goal is to examine the interconnections between objects’ materiality and cultural codes. With the generous support from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the conference is free and open to the public; advance registration required. This event also marks the first major event on Chinese art and Chinese studies ever held by both institutions.
The conference consists of three main sessions: China and the Discourse of Things, The World and its Collection of China, and On Different Grounds: Collecting Practices and Private Collectors. Objects to be explored are as varied as archaeological objects such as Shang-Dynasty oracle bones, Neolithic jades, and prehistoric potteries; exported ceramics, paintings, and wallpapers; and books and centuries-old architectural models. During the conference, archeologists, art historians, historians, and museum curators will explore how these objects have played roles in establishing what the word “Chinese” connotes in modern perceptions, and how such interpretations vary in different social and cultural contexts.
The list of speakers includes: Wen-Hsin Yeh, UC Berkeley; Eugene Wang, Harvard; Vimalin Rujivacharakul, U. Delaware; Marcia Reed, Getty Research Institute; Stacey Pierson, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art; C. Griffith Mann, The Walters Art Museum; Elisabeth Lillehoj, DePaul University; Yuming He, University of Chicago; Ronald W. Fuchs II, Winterthur; Paola DeMatte, Rhode Island School of Design; Ting Chang, Carnegie Mellon; Shana Brown, University of Hawai’i; Patricia Berger, UC Berkeley; and Stanley Abe, Duke University.
The conference also features a roundtable discussion on methods and collecting practices, led by renowned senior art historians of U.Delaware and Winterthur: H. Perry Chapman, Bernard Herman, Kasey Grier, and Lawrence Nees.
For full details of the conference and registration, visit www.udel.edu/ArtHistory/symposium.html or call Winterthur at 800.448.3883.
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