The Global Baroque: European Material Culture between Conquest, Trade and Mission, 1600-1750
Event details
The period of Western art history known as “the Baroque” has traditionally been interpreted as a stylistic phenomenon. However, artistic production in Europe circa 1600–1750 was enabled by a proto-industrial world system dominated by Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands and later Britain. As a result, material culture became entangled in networks of trade, colonial rule and Catholic global mission stretching from Naples to Nagasaki.
This conference will broaden perspectives on the Baroque, embracing its transcontinental and multi-media character. By culturally decentring Europe and with materiality a special focus, the programme will recast the continent as a constituent part of an expanding artistic world driven by war, the exploitation of ecosystems and the first information technology revolution. Bringing together scholars and museum curators from the UK and internationally, the conference will demonstrate how objects can offer intimate insights into global histories often characterised by vast, impersonal economic forces.
Conference convenors:
- Dr Adam Sammut, University of York
- Dr Tomasz Grusiecki, Boise State University
- Dr Richard McClary, University of York
Speakers across the two-day conference include:
- Prof Angela Vanhaelen, McGill University
- Prof Lorenzo Pericolo, Florida State University
- Dr Matthew Walker, Queen Mary University of London
- Prof Thijs Weststijn, Utrecht University
- Dr Lorenzo Gatta, Università della Svizzera italiana
- Prof Emerita Christine Göttler, University of Bern
- Dr Ruth Sargent Noyes, National Museum of Denmark
- Dr Vitali Byl, University of Bonn
- Dr Ünver Rüstem, The Johns Hopkins University
- Dr Robyn Radway, Central European University
- Ms Emily Hannam, V&A Museum
- Dr Elsje van Kessel, University of St Andrews
- Dr Sugata Ray, University of California Berkeley
- Dr Anna Grasskamp, University of Oslo
- Prof Aaron Hyman, University of Basel
- Prof Stephanie Porras, Tulane University
With the participation of:
- Prof Cordula van Wyhe, University of York
- Dr Tara Alberts, University of York
- Prof Simon Ditchfield, University of York
A programme for this two-day conference will be added closer to date.
Book tickets
Registration will open closer to the date.
Image caption: Japanese, Arrival of the Europeans, first quarter of the 17 th century. Ink, colour, gold and gold leaf on paper, 105.1 × 260.7 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015.