Art Speaks (Back)

Call for Papers

Art Speaks (Back)

Today, as they have in the past, new technologies and new media are bringing about radical changes in art and society. Reflecting on both the current political moment and new technologies of knowledge and artistic production such as AI, we are calling for paper, panel, and round table discussion proposals with the theme “Art Speaks (Back).” Art has been used to represent and to misrepresent, to subvert or uphold power, to speak back to power, to technology, to Orientalism, to politics, etc. For example, the illustrations in medieval or early modern manuscripts sometimes subvert the messages of the text or go beyond it to include other interpretations; architecture at times embodies messages for the patron that speak back at a rival or enemy; artists and designers often speak back to holders of power whether in explicit or hidden ways. And sometimes, neither art, nor artists, nor historians, have the freedom to voice their opinions.

The capacity or incapacity of art (and artists) to “speak” may be a useful heuristic/analytical tool to examine both contemporary and historical artistic production. By examining the social and political roles art and artists have played in the past, we may be able to assay the dangers and opportunities presented by new media and technologies. We envision the theme “Art Speaks (Back)” to be explored through attention to technologies of production, to patronage and collecting, to the role of art and artists in society, to art created in times of crisis or change. These are only some examples of the way in which the rich and suggestive theme “Art Speaks (Back)” can be examined.

We invite individual papers, complete panels, or pre-organized round-table discussions that address any aspect of this theme. In this year’s symposium, we will have one session dedicated to 5-minute lightning talks. We also encourage individual applications to this session.

To submit individual papers and lightning papers, please submit a title, an abstract, and a 100-word bio, and indicate whether you are applying to present a 20-minute or a 5-minute paper. For complete panels with three or four 20-minute papers, please include a panel abstract and title as well as individual titles and abstracts for all the papers, and short (100 word) bios for all participants. For round table discussions, please submit an abstract and a title for the roundtable, and the names and 100-word bios of all participants.

Accommodations will be provided for all presenters and travel expenses of students and contingent scholars presenting at the symposium will be covered by HIAA and the Norma Jean Calderwood Professorship Funds at Boston College. Presenters must be HIAA members in good standing.

Please email all submissions to: HIAA.2025.Boston@gmail.com by April 15, 2024. The program committee plans to announce its selections by June 15th.

The 13^th HIAA Biennial will be held at Boston College and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston on April 3-5, 2025. Emine Fetvacı will be organizing the event with Laura Weinstein, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art at the MFA; and Nadirah Mansour, Assistant Curator of Islamic Art, also at the MFA. The theme of the symposium will be “Art Speaks (Back)”. We will send out a call for papers, panels and roundtables in the coming weeks.  Rami Alafandi (MIT), Alexander Brey (Wellesley College), Gwendolyn Collaço (MIT), Huma Gupta (MIT), Lydia Harrington (The Syria Museum, Syrian American Council), Nasser Rabbat (MIT), Matt Saba (MIT), Dana Sajdi (Boston College), Amanda Hannoush Steinberg (Harvard University), and Ayşin Yoltar Yıldırım (Harvard Art Museums).

Symposium Committee

Rami Alafandi (MIT), Alexander Brey (Wellesley College), Gwendolyn Collaço (MIT), Huma Gupta (MIT), Lydia Harrington (The Syria Museum, Syrian American Council), Nasser Rabbat (MIT), Matt Saba (MIT), Dana Sajdi (Boston College), Amanda Hannoush Steinberg (Harvard University), and Ayşin Yoltar Yıldırım (Harvard Art Museums).