conferences

The expe­ri­ence of sover­eignty can be an individual’s claimed self-empow­er­ment or a group’s self-rule and rule over others as well. The produc­tion and assertion of sovereign power through visual means has been central to the formation of artistic cultures from the construc­tion of burial sites, stamping of currency, forging of metal jewelry, and construc­tion of agrarian and urban settle­ments. In turn, the rise of ​‘sover­eignty’ as a termi­nol­ogy, coined in the four­teenth century and central to the devel­op­ment of inter­na­tional law in the seven­teenth and eigh­teenth centuries, is central to the rise of the nation state, the formation of art history as a disci­pline and its accom­pa­ny­ing insti­tu­tions of the University and the Museum. Sovereign power can be exploited to create states of exception and exclusion while the claiming of sover­eignty can also be necessary to reclaim­ing power over self-repre­sen­ta­tion, as demon­strated in Indigenous studies. 

The 2028 CIHA Washington theme of ​“Sovereignty” takes up crucial questions of state power and its legit­i­ma­tion, inter­na­tional law, visual strate­gies to create commu­ni­ties of belonging and exclusion, and the central role of visual regimes to normalize concepts of private property, public space, privacy, and dispos­ses­sion. In calling for papers and sessions that engage with ​‘sover­eignty’ we aim to neither celebrate nor denounce but instead power­fully inter­ro­gate the long history of power and repre­sen­ta­tion, and its inter­sec­tion with different codes of law, govern­ment, territory, and state across time and space. The theme of ​“Sovereignty” engages political terms of urgent interest for contem­po­rary debates while simul­ta­ne­ously speaking broadly to histor­i­cally and geograph­i­cally diverse periods and cultures. This term is meant as opening up both possi­bil­i­ties but also problems and chal­lenges for the explo­ration of art histor­i­cal questions from all eras and geogra­phies. Washington D.C., as the capital city in the United States, is a para­dig­matic site for such a discus­sion, and the US National Committee for the History of Art welcomes all to join in this debate. It can be taken up in relation to indi­vid­ual works of art or formal strate­gies, or theo­ret­i­cally in terms of char­ac­ter­iz­ing movements or groups, or histor­i­cally as part of the ever-changing dynamic between authority and indi­vid­ual agency. We aim for the political valence of the theme to provide an oppor­tu­nity for an inter­na­tional community to clarify the many interests at stake histor­i­cally and globally in sover­eignty and its artistic legacies and futures. 

The CAA Annual Conference is the largest convening of art histo­ri­ans, artists, designers, curators, and visual arts profes­sion­als. Each year sessions offered are submitted by members, commit­tees, and affil­i­ated societies that deliver a wide range of program content. 

The College Art Association Annual Conference is the largest inter­na­tional gathering of profes­sion­als in the visual arts. The program is filled with oppor­tu­ni­ties to join more than 250 stim­u­lat­ing sessions and meetings on a wide range of topics on art schol­ar­ship and practice; to engage in in-depth discus­sions on new schol­ar­ship, inno­v­a­tive art, and issues in the arts today; and to connect with colleagues from across the country and around the world.

Matter and mate­ri­al­ity are inherent to the concep­tion, produc­tion, inter­pre­ta­tion and conser­va­tion of artifacts in all cultures across all periods of time. In recent decades these notions have given rise to theo­ret­i­cal reflec­tions, including a rethink­ing of the hyle­mor­phic model (form/​matter oppo­si­tion). A world is open to us in which matter is no longer fixed and inert but in motion, in the grip of infinite trans­for­ma­tions, a world of flux (G. Deleuze, T. Ingold), where vital matter is endowed with agency (J. Bennett).

Materiality, resulting from the effect produced by the prop­er­ties of matter, is grasped within envi­ron­ments and contexts of reception that are also changing and have nothing fixed or defin­i­tive. These prop­er­ties are mani­fested through the effects of textures, surfaces, weight, extension in space, format, gestural traces, and material effects… The concept of mate­ri­al­ity therefore refers to the fact that the artifacts are composed of materials and, at a theo­ret­i­cal level, to all the processes — technical, cultural and social — that undergird the real­iza­tion and the material percep­tion of works of art.

It is in this spirit that the theme chosen for the 36th CIHA congress is intended. This theme thus provides an oppor­tu­nity for fruitful inter­cul­tural and inter­dis­ci­pli­nary dialogue on questions that promote a trans­ver­sal perspec­tive at the inter­sec­tion of approaches and methodologies.