CFP: "Decentering Art of the Former East" (CAA Chicago 12-15 Feb 2014)

[Kristin Romberg]

CAA Annual Conference, Chicago, February 12-14, 2014
Deadline for Proposals: August 1, 2013

Call for Papers:
Decentering Art of the Former East

Session sponsored by the Society of Historians of East European, 
Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture (SHERA)

Panel co-chairs: Masha Chlenova, The Museum of Modern Art; and Kristin 
Romberg, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Whether conceptualized in terms of a periphery or an alternative center, 
narratives of Russian and Eastern European art have long been organized 
around a binary of East and West, shaped both by art history's 
disciplinary biases and by the politics of the Cold War and "fall of 
communism." This panel takes Partha Mitter's argument in "Decentering 
Modernism" (2008) as a point of departure in order to rethink how art of 
these regions can be understood in an increasingly global art history. 
Can we find ways of rereading the default evaluation that western 
references to the Russian avant-garde's monochromes and constructions 
are art-historically savvy, while Russian and Eastern European 
references to internationally known practices are derivative? What is 
the difference between naïve appropriation and creative misreading, and 
to what extent are these procedures also fundamental to the work of 
stably central figures of Western European and North American art? How 
do Byzantine and Eurasian histories and forms ground or inflect these 
artistic formations? Can the widespread opposition between a western 
artistic center and eastern periphery be productively undermined not 
through the lens of nationalism but through that of global modernism and 
art history? What do the critical lenses developed in the process of 
working on Russian and Eastern European topics reveal about western art, 
global art, or art history as a discipline? How do we interpret these 
practices in ways that are not just specific, but that also speak to and 
shape art-historical inquiry more generally? This panel seeks 
historically grounded case studies of Russian, Eastern European, and 
Eurasian art from any period that productively explore these issues.

Please send a paper title, abstract (200-300 words), and 2-page 
curriculum vitae to Masha Chlenova (masha_chlenova at moma.org) and Kristin 
Romberg (kristin.romberg at gmail.com) by August 1.

Note that panelists must join SHERA to participate, but do *not* need to 
be members of CAA or to register for the conference.

=======================================================

The Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art 
and Architecture (SHERA) is an association of academics, librarians, 
museum workers, independent scholars, students, and other individuals 
who share an interest in the art and visual culture of Russia, the 
nations of the former Soviet Union, and Central and Eastern Europe. The 
Society seeks to improve research circumstances for scholars, connect 
members to necessary resources, provide a forum for ongoing 
conversations on areas of mutual interest, and foster contacts among 
members. SHERA runs a website and electronic listserv, and organizes 
sessions at scholarly conferences such as CAA and ASEEES.

=======================================================
SHERA
Margaret Samu, President
Natasha Kurchanova, Vice-President/President-Elect
Yelena Kalinsky, Secretary-Treasurer
Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and 
Architecture
SHERA.artarchitecture at gmail.com <mailto:SHERA.artarchitecture at gmail.com>
http://lists.oakland.edu/mailman/listinfo/shera

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