Cult/Space/Presence of Images. A Workshop on the Art and Cultural Historical Impulses of Hans Belting

To this end, three different, though not strictly separable, focal areas and thematic fields will be explored, which played a central role in Belting’s research: on the one hand, the question of the function and meaning of “cult images” in the interplay of religion, aesthetics, and ritual performance; on the other hand, the question of the real and imaginary, social and religious space in which images act or are understood as acting, and finally, the question of the presence mediated by images or media-aesthetically constructed presence. Naturally, these three thematic axes overlap in various ways and are frequently interconnected, as Belting himself has repeatedly pointed out, for example in his Bild-Anthropologie (2001), and thematized in the triad “image, medium, body”. The workshop brings together art historians and scholars of related disciplines and will include contributions with object-centered approaches as well as methodological reflections or such regarding the historiography of art history. The participants are from three generations of scholars engaged with Belting’s research.

You can follow the conference also online via our VIMEO CHANNEL:
March 21: https://vimeo.com/event/4035597
March 22: https://vimeo.com/event/4035625

Scientific Organization: Tanja Michalsky, Klaus Krüger, Ivan Foletti

Program

Thursday, 21.03.2024

09:00 INTRODUCTION
Tanja Michalsky (BHMPI)
Klaus Krüger (Free University of Berlin)
Ivan Foletti (Masaryk University)

09:15
Naomi Ruth Pitamber (Clark University)
Cosmic Order and the Christian Conversion of the Medieval Pantheon

10:00
Peter Seiler (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Hic est Christus. Bild und Name im Bilderstreit des 8. Jahrhunderts

10:45 COFFEE BREAK

11:15
Adrian Bremenkamp (BHMPI)
Der Freskenzyklus im Portikus von San Lorenzo fuori le mura in Rom und Hans Beltings Begriff “Bildprogramm”

12:00
Erene Rafik Morcos (University of Cologne)
Placemaking in the Hamilton Psalter

12:45
Carlo Ebanista and Lorenza Longobardi (University of Molise)
Il culto delle immagini nel medioevo: il caso di S. Prima nella chiesa rupestre di S. Efebo a Napoli

13:30 LUNCH BREAK

14:30
C. Jean Campbell (Emory University)
Temper: Bodily Medium, Representational Means, Aesthetic Reception

15:15
Michalis Valaouris (Fotosammlung Ruth und Peter Herzog, Basel)
Orientalizing the Icon: Cult Images in Theodore Ralli’s Paintings

16:00 COFFEE BREAK

16:30
Sabine Sommerer (University of Bamberg)
Von der Zeugenschaft zum Reenactment. Der «leere» Thron als Medium von Symbolisierungs- und Animationsvorgängen im mittelalterlichen Ritual

17:15
Harleen Kaur Bagga (BHMPI)
Visions Across Time: The Birth of the Presepio

18:00
Karina Pawlow (University of Cologne)
The Festa dei Gigli in Nola: Examining the Artistic and Religious Significance of Ephemeral Imagery

Friday, 22.03.2024

09:00
Berthold Hub (University of Vienna / BHT)
The Power of Imagination and the Power of Images

09:45
Marta Battisti (LARHRA / University of Grenoble Alpes)
The “Oral Presence” of the Crucifix in post-Tridentine Italian Art

10:30 COFFEE BREAK

11:00

Rachel Catherine Patt (Princeton University)

Conjuring Presence, Alleviating Pothos: Roman Mortuary Molds and the Power of the Portrait

11:45
Niko Munz (University of Oxford)
Image Rights: Early Portraiture’s Legal Character

12:30
Maurizio Cau (Italian-German Historical Institute)
The Photographic Portrait of the Presidents of the Italian Republic. Symbolic Practices, Styles, Reception

13:15 LUNCH BREAK

14:15
Sarah F. Cohen (Columbia University)
Making Meaning & Promising Sanctity: Belting on Legend and the Cult of Images at San Marco

15:00
Hagi Kenaan (Tel Aviv University)
The Transformations of Butades: Belting on Image, Embodiment and Death

15:45 COFFEE BREAK

16:15
Xavier Barral i Altet (The National Institute for Art History, Paris)
Hans Belting e il dibattito sull’arte medievale al congresso di Rennes (1983)

17:00
Herbert Kessler (Johns Hopkins University)
Ornament and Icon

17:45
Adrien Palladino (Masaryk University)
A Primordial Divide: Belting and Germany’s Polyvalent Artistic Identities