Date：March 30 - April 1, 2002
Location：National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
The Organizer
This conference is organized by the Project of Western Art History Studies
and sponsored by the National Science Council of Taiwan and is the first international
conference held by the Project since its establishment in December 2000 at
the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. The Project of Western Art
History Studies is the foremost research center in the field in Taiwan and
aims to promote advanced scholarship in western art history, maintain extensive
book and archival collections, and build online research tools. It also offers
public lectures and symposia, inviting distinguished scholars from overseas
and local scholars to convene in Taiwan to present and exchange their research
results and ideas. All the committee members of our Project are young scholars
and professors who have done their advanced studies at prestigious universities
in England, France, Germany and the United States. This conference grows out
of the common interest of the National Science Council and the committee members
of the Project in promoting researches in this field.
Papers
The body has been an ever-changing subject in western art history. This conference
will focus on concepts and images of the body in western art. Panels for the
conference include, but are not limited to:
· Model of the Body
· Modeling Body
· Self-representation
· Body Politics
Each paper is followed by discussions and questions. The official languages of the discussion are English and Chinese.
Panels of the Conference
Model of the Body (Kopermodelle)
The word "model" implies mainly the concept of prototype, exemplar, an idea initiating a movement, or the very first form of some products, for example, automobiles. "Model" in this sense cannot mean just any person but "concrete generality" or a type. In other words, "body model" can pin down the conception of a certain era and culture with regard to the wishes and fear that are associated with the presentation of the body and the self. The contempt toward the body expressed in St. Paul's Epistle obviously influenced the art of the high Middle Ages in such a way that the representations of bodies showed more spiritual than sensuous qualities, as seen in the naked bodies in Bauhuttenbuch of Villard de Ilonnecourt. In contrast, in early Renaissance the sculpture was rediscovered after some preliminary stages by artists like Donatello who became more committed to the purely formal beauty of the naked body in the spirit of ancient Roman and Greek sculpture. Since then, because of various historical and cultural factors, a variety of models for the body appeared, for example the model of mathematic "proportion" represented by Durer and Leonardo and the model of "anatomically" exact, real bodies represented by Michelangelo, and Vesalius, to which the "Knollenmanner" of the Dutch mannerism can be traced back to. In the eighteenth century the concept of the body, for example in La Mettric's 'L'homme machine', was more concerned about the invisible mechanical functions of the human body and then later even more inspired by the discovery of the physical forces of the nineteenth century. (see the exhibition catalogue L'ame au corps - arts et sciences, 1793-1993, Paris : Grand Palais, 1993). "Model of the body" as a concept was defined by the fixed conception of the body within an epoch, whether it was only agreed upon by some people or could be applied generally.
Modeling Body (Der Modellierte Korper)
When it comes to modeling body, the first thing that attracts our attention is all the manipulations that people do to their bodies, willingly or not, such as tattoos, make-up, body paintings, masques and the working on skeletons or the recent cosmetic operation with artistic or aesthetic purposes. "Modeling body" in this sense should also be valid for the manipulation of fictive bodies in art. We refer such manipulation to all kinds of operations deforming the body artistically, like the popular "Schnurung" in late Gothic era, the bizarrely lengthened and distorted proportion of the body in mannerism, and the caricatural deformation which according to Werner Hofmann can be viewed as the mark of modern art. The deformed body may even become another kind of body model. But still such manipulations cannot be totally separated from some existing models of the body and can be regarded as individual incidents if they appear too sporadically to form a certain type or canon. For us it is very important to make distinction here, since not every body that is modeled will become a body model. The concept of modeling body suggests, in contrary to that of the model of body, a kind of deviation as individual incidents, not the canon.
Self-representation
This panel will explore the changing role and function of self-representation in the definition of issues regarding artists' personal, cultural, ethnic, social, sexual, and gender identities through the ages. Through self-representation, artists have often been exploring their roles in the society, observing their appearances, and analyzing their life experiences, inner thoughts, and creative concepts. Above all, the works demonstrate a high degree of subjectivity. In the twentieth century, artists continued to explore their selves through self-portraits and even represent their crisis of self-existence. For example, European art after the First World War was profuse with imagery of fear and death while psychoanalysis prevailed and the spirituality of art became the primary concern. As a result, many self-portraits of erotic, secretive, and illusionary nature appeared. During the modern and postmodern period, in addition to the white man's self- representation, there are growing prominence of self-representations by women, sexual dissidents, and men of diverse cultural backgrounds. We will investigate the dramatic and explosive appearance of these new subjectivities embedded in self-representations. As the "self" is a changing historical concept, we will consider the selves enacted by these self-representations as full of fluid, multiple, even contradictory identities, which are embroiled and regulated by various discourses and artistic traditions in their socio-cultural background, and which are inflected and negotiated by the agency of the artists and their spectators. By so doing, we hope to understand how these self-representations have mirrored, challenged or changed our cultural ideas of the artists.
Body Politics
This panel will focus on the body in visual representation, including painting and sculpture as well as photography and contemporary visual culture. Our interest here is to consider visual practices of the body in terms of power. We will explore how power is inscribed on the culturally and historically embedded, bodily representations with particular references to gender, sexual, social, racial, and national identities. We will also examine contemporary concerns with the role of politics in the artistic creation and dissemination of the abject or the hybrid body in relation to violence, reproduction, disease, cosmetic surgery, and virtual reality. In particular, we will pay much attention to how contemporary critical theories, including poststructuralist, feminist, queer, socialist, and postcolonial theories, have reshaped our perspectives of bodily imagery. Our concerns will range across all forms of embodiment in the visual art: the body of the model, the body of the viewer, and the body of the work of art itself. We will examine how the molding and modeling of the model's body, together with the use of gesture, movement, costume, and ornament, has established, idealized or contested the body norm as well as has affirmed, deflected, or subverted the spectator's gaze. In other words, we will treat the inscriptions of the body as a battleground contested by various manipulated, regulated, renegotiated, and subverted political codes and identity practices.
Conference Program
March 30, 2002 ( Saturday )
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8:30-8:50
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Registration
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8:50-9:00
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Welcome Remarks
Chairperson: Tzeng, Shai-Shu |
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9:00-9:40
Keynote Speech |
Keynote Speaker：Bindman, David（During-Lawrence Professor,
Department of History of Art, University College London, United Kingdom） Title：The Skull and the Idea of Human Variety in the 18th Century |
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9:40-11:15
Session I Model of the Body |
Moderator and Translator: Tseng, Shao-Chien（Assistant Professor, Division of General Education and Core Curriculum, Tamkang University, Taiwan） Speaker：Steiner, Reinhard A. (Professor, Department of Art History, Stuttgart University, Germany) Speaker：Tzeng, Shai-Shu (Professor, Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan) Respondents: |
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Discussion
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11:15-11:35
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Coffee Break
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11:35-13:15
Session II Model of the Body |
Moderator and Translator: Wang, Cheng-Hua Speaker：Chou, Fang-Mei (Associate Professor, Graduate Institute
of Art Studies, National Central University, Taiwan) Speaker: Wu, Fang-Cheng (Associate Professor, Graduate Institute
of Art Studies, National Central University, Taiwan) Respondents: Yen, Chuan-Ying |
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Discussion
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13:15-14:30
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Lunch Break
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14:30-16:05
Session III Modeling Body |
Moderator and Translator: Yang, Yong-Yuan（Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Art Education, National Tai-Chung Teachers College, Taiwan） Speaker：Hua, Yih-Fen (Assistant Professor, Center of General Education, National
Yang-Ming University, Taiwan） Speaker：Stoichita, Victor I. （Ordinary Professor, Department of History of Art,
University of Fribourg-Switzerland, Switzerland） Respondents: |
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Discussion
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16:05-16:25
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Coffee Break
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16:25-18:00
Session IV Modeling Body |
Moderator and Translator: Liu, Jui-Chi (Assistant Professor, Graduate Institute of Art, National Cheng KungUniversity, Taiwan) Speaker：Johnson, Dorothy（Director, School of Art and Art History,
the University of Iowa, United States） Speaker: Liu, Chiao-Mei (Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Art and Art Education,
National Taiwan University, Taiwan) Repondents: Stoichita, Victor I. （Ordinary Professor, Department of History of Art, University of Fribourg-Switzerland, Switzerland） |
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Discussion
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March 31, 2002 ( Sunday )
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8:30-9:00
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Registration
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9:00-11:15
Session V Self-Representation |
Moderator and Translator: Lin, Chi-Ming （Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Art and Art Education, National Taipei Teachers College, Taiwan） Speaker：Levine, Steven Z. （Director, Center for Visual Culture, Bryn Mawr College, United States） Speaker：Leenhardt, Jacques（Directeur, Etudes a l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France） Speaker : Bonnet, Anne-Marie (C 4-Professor, Institute of Art History, University of Bonn, Germany) Respondents: |
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Discussion
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11:15-11:35
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Coffee Break
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11:35-13:10
Session VI Self-Representation |
Moderator and Translator: Lin, Hsiu-Ling Speaker : Lin, Chi-Ming （Assistant Professor, Graduate School
of Art and Art Education, National Taipei Teachers College, Taiwan） Speaker：Liu, Jui-Chi（Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Art and Art Education, National Taiwan University,
Taiwan) Respondants: Leenhardt, Jacques（Directeur, Etudes a l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France） |
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Discussion
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13:10-14:30
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Lunch Break
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14:30-16:50
Session VII Body Politics |
Moderator and Translator: Ju, Jane Speaker：Yang, Yong-Yuan （Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Art Education,
National Tai-Chung Teachers College, Taiwan） Speaker： Michel, Regis（Chief Curator, Department of Art Graphiques, Le Louvre, France） Speaker：Tseng, Shao-Chien（Assistant Professor, Division of General Education and Core
Curriculum, Tamkang University, Taiwan） Respondents: |
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Discussion
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16:50-17:00
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Closing Ceremony
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