In the last twenty years, architectural historiography approached regionalism as a pan-European movement between 1890 and 1950 as a flipside of the International Modern Movement with its rationalist and cosmopolitan agenda. The movement helped to reinforce regional identities through the language of regionalist building styles. Architectural regionalism emerged as a polymorphic set of artistic strategies used by either centralist regimes or centrifugal forces, when European nation states such as France, Great Britain, Netherlands or Germany entered a late-modern phase of political saturation and a stronger need of cultural self-definition.
If 'area studies' identified similar regionalist policy changes from cultural assimilation to association for European colonies in Asia and Africa during the same period (1890-1950), then the emerging 'neo-vernacular styles' in the colonies can be read as Non-European variants of 'regionalist styles' in the European nation states. This 'trans-cultural' approach frames the diverse regionalist formations of architectural styles and forms as one globally connected process. Transnational approaches to set the different European colonial contexts within the first half of the 20th century in relation to each other can also help to conceptualise the recent inter-related effects between globalisation and decentralisation (like in France), where the notions of the global and the local are often enmeshed simultaneously in contemporary architecture.
Requested case studies can focus on regionalist and (neo-)vernacular architectural style formations either within European nation states or in European colonies. Detailed requirement can be read on the website below.
The international conference in French, English and German will take place from November 30 to December 2, 2016 at the German Centre for Art History in Paris. It is a collaborative exercise between the Cluster “Asia and Europe” at Heidelberg University (and its project “Picturesque Modernities”, directed by Michael Falser/Global Art History),the German Centre of Art History in Paris, the University of Poitiers,the Centre André Chastel and the Association d’Histoire de l’Architecture.
This conference is the second event after the International Conference “Picturesque Eye. Framing Regionalist Art Forms in Late Empires (1900-1950)” which took place in Vienna, Austria in December 2015.
Following the conference, a half-day workshop for PhD-candidates is planned. Proposals for this workshop are also welcome.
Applicants are asked to send a proposal (max. 300 words, one to two illustrations) to Michael Falser, the deadline is August 15, 2016. Please include the title of the contribution, an abstract and a short bio-sketch of the speaker with affiliation and contact details. The decision about the selection of contributions will be announced in September 2016.
Find more information here.
↧