Interdependencies IV
Anachronistic Technologies and Techniques? On the Revival or Continued Use of Art Techniques and Technologies

Conception: Prof. Dr. Magdalena Bushart, Henrike Haug, and Dr. des. Stefanie Stallschus

Art technologies and methods become manifest and fade away again; these historical changes count as a key force behind developments in the fine arts. But what happens when knowledge about specific working methods, actions, skills, and practices do not die out but are instead reactivated? When they happen to be or must be revived, rediscovered, or reacquired? Our fourth conference for the research project “Interdependencies: the Arts and Artistic Techniques” is investigating “anachronistic” techniques and technologies and thereby consciously questions the validity of traditional art-historical models of development. It is not seeking to continue writing histories of progress or demise, and instead wants to zero in on historiographic anachronisms resulting from “revival" as a figure of “retrospective” thought. Only the reactivation of outdated techniques and technologies creates a state of tension between them and defines what we are supposed to perceive as “old” and “new”.

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Reactivating is therefore a dynamic process in which widely diverse actors, things, and ideas all play their part. Against this backdrop, papers for the conference are to investigate the concrete constellations of such processes, their causes, and their effects. How could rediscoveries have taken place? Was it a thing of contingency and luck on the part of craftsmen who were experimenting around or was it the result of systematic study? How does the “memory of former techniques and skills” arise? Which traditional forms and models supply information about ancient and old methods and skills? What role do written sources and the findings of traditional artifacts play?

The conference is looking for contributions from both established researchers and young scholars from Germany and abroad. Travel and accommodation expenses will be reimbursed if we manage to secure funding for this purpose.

Interested scholars are requested to submit abstracts not longer than 5000 characters, accompanied by a brief CV, by 16 November, 2014, to Prof. Dr. Magdalena Bushart (magdalena.bushart[at]tu-berlin.de).