CALL FOR PAPER: SAH Conference ‘RITUAL AND ORNAMENT’

American Association for Italian Studies

  • Dates: 14 – 17 Jun, 2018
  • Location: Sorrento, Vermont, United States
  • Address: Sant’Anna Institute
  • Contact: Eleanor DAponte
  • Email: edapont@norwich.edu

The American Association for Italian Studies is now accepting session and roundtable proposals for their next conference, which will take place from 14-17 June 2018 at the Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy.

 76. Title: RITUAL AND ORNAMENT

The genesis of architectural ornament derives from ritual and a human instinct for imitation (Gottfried Semper, 2004). Early architectural ‘enclosures’, or ‘space dividers’ were first plant fiber woven mats and then woven tapestries. Woven patterns used as edging for Roman tapestry walls are replicated in Pompeiian fresco designs. The ritual uses of tapestries and relics in religious ceremonies of the Sorrentine peninsula are memorialized and transformed as decorative and structural motifs on walls, in mosaics, liturgical elements, and building facades.  Interdisciplinary papers exploring the relationship of ornament to ritual and sacrament from ancient to modern times are welcome.

Proposals due to edapont@norwich.edu by December 30, 2017 should include title, brief abstract (200-250 words), and short biographical blurb.

Chair: Eleanor D’Aponte, AIA, Associate Professor, Norwich University, edapont@norwich.edu