CFP: Naples and the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in a Global Context (12-14 October: Naples)

Proposals are welcome for the symposium: Naples and the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in a Global Context, to be held at Naples, 12-14 October 2017

PROPOSALS DUE APRIL 24. 2017

One of the world’s oldest cultural centers and one of the largest ports in Europe, the city of Naples is a node in a cultural and economic network that spans the Mediterranean and beyond. The story of art in Naples is one of encounter and exchange, of rupture and unexpected convergence. It is above all a story of movement: of people, artworks, and forms, of technologies, traditions, and ideas. Naples thus challenges us to envision a new history of art that ranges across geography, chronology, and medium. Art in Naples has long been marginalized or misunderstood. Instead, we take Naples as a laboratory for new art historical research with global implications.  

To launch a new collaboration between the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History and the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte dedicated to innovative research on art in Naples and on the cultural histories of port cities, this symposium brings together an international group of scholars for two days of on-site presentations that will set Naples and the Capodimonte in a global context.

After a public keynote lecture and celebratory reception on the evening of Thursday, October 12, a group of around 30 scholars will spend the next two days participating in a series of presentations in the form of gallery talks and site visits that will focus on individual artworks in the Capodimonte collections and on sites within its surrounding gardens. Each presentation will be followed by discussion. Moderated roundtables and shared meals will provide further opportunities for participants to respond to each other’s presentations and to engage with broader themes.

We invite scholars at all professional stages (including advanced graduate students) to propose 20-minute presentations that focus either on individual artworks at the Capodimonte or on specific sites in the Bosco. Through these individual objects and sites, presentations should open onto larger questions related to Naples and the Capodimonte in a global context: for example, the formation of the Capodimonte’s collections and gardens, the cultural history of Naples as a port city, the mobility of objects and people, and processes of circulation, encounter, and exchange. Presentations may be made in Italian or English.

To propose a presentation on a specific artwork or site at the Capodimonte, please submit via email attachment a proposal of under 350 words and a short CV to Elizabeth Ranieri, The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History (enr101020@utdallas.edu), by April 24, 2017. Proposals will be reviewed by collaborators at the O’Donnell Institute and the Capodimonte. A certain number of presenters not based in Naples will be offered a small grant to contribute toward the cost of travel.

Source:  Sarah K. Kozlowski