The summer school encourages the understanding of cross-cultural creativity through the analysis of historical texts, written sources and objects and is particularly aimed at scholars in their early career (PhDs, Postdoctoral, and researchers in the early years of employment). The Summer School connects new research in the field of global history with curatorial practices in museum displays and exhibitions that in recent years have fostered a greater dialogue between Western and non-Western scholarship. Participants will be asked to reflect critically on how innovation and creativity in the arts stemmed from economic and cultural exchanges across Eurasia and the New World.
This summer school focuses on the methodologies recently developed in the field of global history in order to analyse the interconnections between different areas of the world in the early age of globalisation. This first Venice summer school considers the historical interchange in the global arts: artefacts of material culture (i.e. art objects, ceramics, glass, metal ornaments, textiles, furnishing and interiors), collecting, applied technologies, cultural reception and consumption. It investigates creativity and innovation in the arts as a key aspect of the global connections that characterised the world between 1300 and 1800.
The summer school will be organised around lectures, seminars with readings of primary and secondary sources, and visits to museums, archives and historical working spaces and will be taught by international experts. We plan a total of seven working sessions (each consisting of a one-hour lecture and a two-hour seminar), five visits, and a final round table. Lecture and Seminar topics include: The Mughal Empire and the West; Silk across civilisations; Cotton and the global textile connection; Porcelain in China and Europe; Venetian glass and the Middle East; Consumer preferences and trade in luxuries; Cosmopolitan domestic interiors; and Global collecting.
The cost to participants is 300 Euro (250 Euro for those who are not in employment). This includes accommodation for seven nights, lunches, travel to and entry to museums, and the Summer School fee. Travel costs and any additional expenses (i.e. dinners, and extra accommodation) must be met by participants. We encourage applicants to seek full funding from their home institution to cover these additional costs. There are currently 16 places available that will be allocated on the basis of merit and research profile. A small number of scholarships covering the cost of the Summer School fee are available. The application deadline is 15 December 2008; for details on how to apply, please visit our website: www.warwick.ac.uk/go/globalartssummerschool.
Successful applicants will be notified by 15 January 2009.
Please bring Global Arts: Exchange and Innovation of Visual and Material Culture across the World, 1300-1800 to the attention of any postgraduates or recently completed PhD students for whom the themes of the Summer School are relevant.
Dr Luca Molà and Dr Giorgio Riello, University of Warwick