U.Va. Art and Architectural History Symposium to Explore Cultural Responses to Catastrophe

Sept. 19, 2006 -- The University of Virginia's graduate program in the history of art and architecture and the Carl H. and Martha S. Lindner Center for Art History will hold a two-day symposium "Aftermath: The Cultural Response to Catastrophe" on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22-23 in Campbell Hall, room 158. The event is free and open to the public.

The event will explore societal responses to catastrophic change, focusing on shifts in activities and attitudes through art and architecture. Catastrophe encompasses such disparate concepts as natural disasters, invasion and apocalypse, as well as psychological and social breakdowns and economic collapse. Presenters will incorporate ideas of reconstruction; commemoration; opportunities to make a clean break and a fresh start; ruins; preservation; and rebirth rooted in spatial, historical, art historical or literary analysis.

Daniel Bluestone, U.Va. associate professor of architectural history and a specialist in 19th century American architecture and urbanism, will kick off the event on Friday at 5 p.m. with his talk, "'Great Calamity,' 'Grevious Disaster,' and the Classical Reemergence of Jeffersonian Design at U.Va."

Keynote speaker Lisa Saltzman, associate professor of art and director of the Center for Visual Culture at Bryn Mawr College, will speak about memory, trauma and representation in her talk "Making Memory Matter" on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 3:30 p.m.

AFTERMATH: The Cultural Response to Catastrophe Symposium Schedule

Friday, Sept. 22

5 p.m.     "'Great Calamity,' 'Grievous Disaster,' and the Classical Persistence of Jeffersonian Design at U.Va."

Daniel Bluestone, associate professor of architectural history and director of the Historic Preservation Program, University of Virginia

Saturday, Sept. 23

9:30 a.m.    Coffee and Bagels, Naug Lounge, Campbell Hall

10 a.m.-12 p.m.    Symposium Papers

"The Transference of Buddha Images to Bangkok after the Burmese Invasion"

"Redeeming Rubble: Case Studies of Germany's Preservation Responses after the Holocaust"

"The Athenian Plague as a Pretext for the Reorganization of the Eleusinian Mysteries"

Response: David Summers and Louis Nelson, University of Virginia Department of Art and Architectural History

12:30-1:30 p.m.   Lunch Break

1:30-3:30 p.m.     Symposium Papers

"Operation Magic Fire"

 "Reconstructing Chinese Identities: The Palace Museum and Chinese Renaissance Architecture in the Notions of the May Fourth Movement and New Life Movement"

 "The Existential Crisis of National Imaginaries: Repetition in Contemporary Palestinian Art"

Response: David Summers and Louis Nelson, University of Virginia Department of Art and Architectural History
 
3:30-5 p.m.         KEYNOTE ADDRESS: "Making Memory Matter" Lisa Saltzman, associate professor of art history, Bryn Mawr College

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