Abiding Present: Challenging Time in Art History

Since the past is perpetually renewed by dint of confrontation with the present, how can art historians attend to the worries of their own contemporary moment, while capturing an object’s bygone reality and continuing reception? This workshop addresses issues of time in art history by considering the working notion of an abiding present. The phrase gestures towards art history’s complex temporal dealings and its commitment to both historical contextualization and political awareness. 

This workshop is generously supported by The Warburg Institute and the Association for Art History. It is organised by Dr Ambra D’Antone (Bilderfahrzeuge, The Warburg Institute, London), Dr Felix Jäger (LMU Munich) and Dr Johannes von Müller (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel).

PROGRAMME

Day 1 - Thursday 11 May 2023

13:00: Arrival and coffee

13:30: Welcome and introduction

PANEL 1 - Art History’s Times

13:50: Ambra D’Antone

14:00: Mateusz Kapustka: 'The Origins of Inheritance: Staging the Loyalty of Time in Baroque Philosophical Theses'

14:40: Ana Redondo Plaza: 'The Modern Quattrocento: Piero della Francesca and Paolo Uccello out of the Timeline in the Construction of Modernity'

15:20: BREAK

15:40: Nadia von Maltzahn: 'Rethinking Periodization in Lebanon’s Post-Independence Art History'

16:20: Emily C. Burns: 'Belated: Accommodating Art’s Multiple Temporalities'

17:00: BREAK

17:30: Keynote Lecture / Caroline van Eck: 'The Figuration of the Forgotten: Proust and Warburg on Fractured Selves and Involuntary Memories'. NB: this lecture will also be available for online attendance. 

19:00: RECEPTION

Day 2 - Friday 12 May 2023

09:00: Arrival and coffee

PANEL 2 - Speculative Times

09:20: Johannes von Müller

09:30: Session with material from the Warburg Institute Archives, chaired by Dr Eckart Marchand (Bilderfahrzeuge Research Group)

10:30: Steffen Haug: '"A Theory of Relativity for Historic Time": Aby Warburg and his Studies on Luther between Past(s) and Present(s)'

11:10: Kevin Lotery: 'The Anteroom Dweller: Siegfried Kracauer’s History: The Last Things Before the Last'

11:50: LUNCH

PANEL 3 - Critical Times

12:50: Felix Jäger

13:00: Chloe Julius: 'The Abiding Present of Contemporary Art in Art History: An October Inheritance'

13:40: Dan Karlholm: 'The Abiding Past, and the Poverty of Presentism'

14:20: BREAK

14:40: Max Böhner: 'Queer Temporality'

15:20: Ewelina Chwiejda: 'Moving Towards an Engaged Art History? Discussing the Role of the Art Historian Today'

16:00: Final Remarks & End of conference 

ATTENDANCE FREE WITH ADVANCE BOOKING.

PLEASE NOTE, THIS WILL BE AN IN-PERSON EVENT. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE KEYNOTE LECYTURE ON 11 MAY PROCEEDINGS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE ACCESS.