Medieval Art History Tomorrow: A Whiteboard Session

Let’s get together and brainstorm about the future of Medieval Art History!

59th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, MI), 2024
Western Michigan University
Saturday, May 11, 10:00-11:30am
Sangren Hall 1730 [Session 344]
Organized by Ben Tilghman, Eliza Garrison, and Nina Rowe and Sponsored by Different Visions

Which theoretical approaches can best move the field of medieval art history into the future? Which objects or sites are well-suited to analysis energized by current priorities for the discipline? How can we work collectively and systematically to pursue research that realizes anti-racist principles and provides colleagues and students with tools for analyzing social inequity and environmental degradation?

“Medieval Art History Tomorrow” will be a whiteboard session in which Workshop Leaders will offer short presentations on a critical text and an object or site, making the case for how these materials can steer the field, and move it forward. Attendees of the session will be part of a workshop through which we aim to ignite a dynamic discussion and confirm a plan for linked projects to be pursued over the coming years. At the ICMS 2025, participants will reconvene to share findings and refine the projects’ goals. At the ICMS 2026, participants will deliver polished papers presenting the research kindled by our discussions and consider next steps.

Come join the conversation!

Pre-Registration and Preparation for the Workshop are encouraged but not required

• The Workshop will be the most productive if participants arrive having reviewed the four texts selected by our Workshop Leaders. PDFs are linked to the titles in the list below.
• And it will help with our preparations to know how many colleagues to expect. So if you plan to attend, please register by sending an email to: medievalarthistorytomorrow@gmail.com, giving your name, student or professional status, and general field/s of scholarship (“art history,” “gender studies,” “environmental studies,” and the like – nothing more specific than that).

Workshop Leaders and their Readings

• • Sherry Lindquist, on Post-, Trans-, Anti-, and Meta-Humanisms (Books of Hours).
    Text: Francesca Ferrando, “Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations” (2014)
  • Ben Tilghman, on Eco-Criticism and Medieval Art (Materials, Bestiaries).
    Text: Anna Tsing, “Unruly Edges: Mushrooms as Companion Species” (2012)
  • Lindsay Cook, on Recovering the Marks of Agricultural Workers (Amiens Cathedral).
    Text: Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995), selection from Ch. 1.
  • Bryan Keene, on Potential History and the Imperialist Foundations of the Archive and the Museum (Pre-Modern Printed Books at California Missions).
    Text: Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, “Imagine Going on Strike: Museum Workers and Historians” (2019).
    Bryan Keene unfortunately is unable to attend the conference. Our discussion will focus on the other three readings.

Ground Rules for the ICMS Workshop

• • • We encourage broad and open conversation about the texts and sites, and will map next steps for a collaborative investigation inspired by the discussion.
    • This is a brainstorming session: no idea is dumb. Together, we will work towards bold and creative new ways of approaching our objects of study.