Special Issue: Points of Friction
If the mission of art history is to make sense of visual and material cultures, then what can be learned from objects that resist art historical study? How can medieval art history benefit from the methodological frictions this resistance generates? Scholars of medieval art may expect to encounter ‘friction’ from archives, individual artworks or methodologies. This Special Issue, edited by Dr Millie M. Horton-Insch (hortonim@tcd.ie) and Dr Lauren Rozenberg (l.rozenberg@uea.ac.uk), invites contributors working across the medieval period to reflect on artworks that they find compelling, but which they feel they have “failed” to satisfactorily engage in art historical study. Abstracts due March 3, 2026. Click here to read more!
Queer Sanctity: Contemporary Visions of Medieval and Renaissance Art
Different Visions invites proposals for contributions to a forthcoming special issue, “Queer Sanctity: Contemporary Visions of Medieval and Renaissance Art,” edited by Bryan C. Keene (Riverside City College; formerly Getty Museum). This volume will take the form of a virtual and imaginary exhibition catalogue examining the ways queer- and trans-identifying contemporary artists working in North America over the last forty years have drawn on medieval and Renaissance visual and material culture (ca. 500–1600 CE) to imagine inclusive futures and advocate for justice in LGBTQIA2+ communities. By juxtaposing historical objects with contemporary works, this issue seeks to interrogate the continuities and ruptures across time in how sanctity, sexuality, and gender identity are represented, perceived, and contested. Click here to read more!
Issue Fourteen, Open Issue: Call for Submissions
Issue fourrteen of Different Visions is the second of the journal’s open issues, which contain peer-reviewed essays on a variety of timely topics that are published when they are ready. We welcome the submission of individual articles and projects. Different Visions aims for inclusive publishing and welcomes a variety of approaches and topics reflecting the diversity of medieval visual and material culture. It publishes work that engages with all forms of critical theory, including Premodern Critical Race Studies, Gender Studies, the global Middle Ages, and Medievalism. It also welcomes projects that work at the intersection of medieval art history and the digital humanities. In addition, it seeks integrated, socially-engaged, or pedagogical projects that examine the role of medieval visual culture in our contemporary world. Please see our submissions page for more information.