Localizing the state apparatus: early modern administration buildings in a global perspective

During the emergence of the early modern state apparatus, administration buildings became an important means of governance. French hôtels de l’Intendances, priories and monastic office buildings, government buildings in a ruler’s domain or in a foreign territory served the administration of local communities, to collect and store goods, fees and contributions. We may think of the casas grandes or casas reales of the haciendas in the Spanish colonies, buildings of the Portuguese padroado in India, or houses of the Dutch trading companies in Asia and America. The buildings provided space for public gatherings on days of hearing, office rooms for administrative staff and rooms for rulers or their representatives, guests and servants. The architecture served diverse practical functions and also visualized a governor’s claim to power.

This session aims to assemble research on early modern administration buildings in a global perspective. Possible contributions may refer but are not limited to the function of such buildings, their structure, their decoration, or their specific role in the definition and the governance of territories. Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural topics are encouraged.

To submit a paper proposal for this session, please send a Word or PDF document to Dr. des. Kristina Hagen [kristina.hagen@[at]rps.bwl.de ] and Dr. Barbara Uppenkamp [barbara.uppenkamp@[at]web.de] by June 3, 2016. Please ensure that the document includes the presenter’s first and last name; academic affiliation and title (or “Independent Scholar”); e-mail address; paper title (15-word maximum); abstract (150-word maximum); short CV (300-word maximum; please follow the CV guidelines and models on http://www.rsa.org/page/2017Chicago).

Artifice and Anti-Naturalism in Renaissance Architecture

Organized by Elizabeth J. Petcu, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Architecture should imitate nature—this was the mandate that Vitruvian literature conveyed to architects and other readers from the fifteenth century on. Yet despite the widespread sway of that ideal, architects often subverted the norms of architectural naturalism through devices such as fictive or broken tracery, illusionistic treatment of materials, false apertures, or deceptively "floating" supports. Scholarship has traditionally cast artificiality and anti-naturalism in Renaissance architecture as manifestations of a lingering, Gothic-era affinity for architectural wit, or as products of a subversive, Mannerist aesthetic. Nevertheless, the restrictions of site, patron, and budget, and the demands of tradition and taste all motivated cases of architectural artifice and anti-naturalism in this era as well. What could be gained by considering architectural displays of artifice and anti-naturalism as more than symptoms of style?

This session will explore artificiality and anti-naturalism in Renaissance architecture beyond the conceptual frameworks and chronological confines of the Gothic and of Mannerism, considering their broader implications for early modern discourse on architectural imitation. The conversation might address any number of questions, including:

• What cultural pressures and artistic priorities motivated designers to reject the ideal of architectural naturalism as defined by Vitruvian literature? 
• How might we compare manifestations of architectural anti-naturalism to performances of architectural artifice? Where do the two categories intersect, and how do they differ?
• How might we relate displays of artificiality or anti-naturalism in structure to those that occur in architectural materials, techniques, and ornament? 
• What do performances of artificiality in Renaissance architecture tell us about paradigms of naturalism and architectural imitation in this era?

The session welcomes papers centered on specific case studies from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, culled from any geography or cultural context.

Please submit a circa 250-word abstract and a short CV by June 3 to: elizabeth.petcu@[at]kunstgeschichte.uni-muenchen.de