CAA News Today
Affiliated Society News: November 2020
posted by Allison Walters — Nov 06, 2020
Affiliated Society News shares the new and exciting things CAA’s affiliated organizations are working on including activities, awards, publications, conferences, and exhibitions.
Interested in becoming an Affiliated Society? Learn more here.
American Institute for Conservation
Conservators around the world will answer questions about their work on Ask a Conservator Day, November 18th, 2020. We hold Ask a Conservator day in November in remembrance of the flooding of Florence on November 4th, 1966, which damaged priceless cultural heritage. However, in response to the catastrophe, incredible efforts were made—and are still being undertaken—to conserve the items impacted by the flood.
Ask a Conservator Day follows in the spirit of that international collaboration and exchange of knowledge. We celebrate the growth of the field inspired by the response to the flood through this opportunity for people to learn about conservation and preservation directly from conservators on social media.
Ask questions on subjects, mediums, and topics that interest you, or see if your favorite cultural heritage institution is participating. Last year’s subjects included discussion on favorite projects, career advice, everything—including grossest collection item or condition issue encountered. Use the hashtag #AskAConservator on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) to catch up with previous discussion and join in the conversation on the 18th!
Association of Print Scholars
The Feminist Art Project
Rejoinder Call for Submissions — Climate in Crisis
“Climate change,” as former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson so astutely notes, “requires a feminist solution.” Global heating is causing rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and the circulation of new pathogens. It impacts economically, socially, and politically marginalized people and communities most severely. Women and children, the majority of the world’s poor, are already disproportionately burdened by its effects. In the Global North, the climate breakdown compounds the environmental racism that many communities of color already experience. Unless the richer, whiter nations of the Global North make a seismic shift in their priorities, experts predict that the Global South will bear the brunt of the climate emergency, with dire consequences inevitable.
This issue of Rejoinder will address the climate crisis in our midst. Submissions (including essays, commentary, criticism, fiction, poetry, and artwork) should address this theme from feminist, queer, social and racial justice-inspired perspectives. We particularly welcome contributions at the intersection of scholarship and activism. For manuscript preparation details, please visit: https://irw.rutgers.edu/about-rejoinder. Rejoinder is an online journal published by the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University in partnership with The Feminist Art Project. Please send completed written work (2,000-2,500 words max), jpegs of artwork, and short bios to the editor, Sarah Tobias (stobias@rutgers.edu) by January 6, 2021.
Society for Architectural Historians
The Call for Session Proposals for the Society of Architectural Historians’ 2022 Annual International Conference in Pittsburgh has opened. Please visit the call here: https://www.sah.org/2022/call-for-sessions
Society of Contemporary Art Historians (SCAH)
Announcing New Initiatives of the Society of Contemporary Art Historians
The Society of Contemporary Art Historians (SCAH), an affiliate society of the College Art Association, is proud to announce the launch of several new projects, publications, and initiatives aimed at promoting equitable and transcultural histories of contemporary art.
Online Programming
Following the widespread shift to online programming in the wake of Covid-19, SCAH presented several virtual programs that were well attended by an international audience. These included a screening of films by artist Nancy Holt followed by a conversation between Kirsten Swenson and Rebecca Uchill; a conversation between video artists Meriem Bennani, Orian Barki, and Marisa Olson; and the panel discussion “Toward an Anti-Racist Contemporary Art History,” featuring the art and architectural historians and curators Amy K. Hamlin, Christina Knight, Ana María León, Alpesh Kantilal Patel, and Ellen Y. Tani. Archived videos from these events are available to view on the SCAH website. A follow-up anti-racist contemporary art history bibliography edit-a-thon is scheduled for Friday, December 4th, 2020 and will be complemented by a related workshop to be scheduled in January 2021. Our 2021 CAA panel focuses on the subject of “Aggregators and Agitators” and will be announced alongside the annual conference’s schedule.
New SCAH Publication: Foreign Language Index
SCAH has published the inaugural issue of a new open-access publication, Foreign Language Index (FLI), which is available here via the SCAH website. This annual journal comprises abstracts and commentary on recent non-anglophone contemporary art history scholarship. The first issue compiles entries by international contributors working across sixteen languages: Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Danish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
Curatorial Opportunity
In an effort to respond quickly to diminished exhibition opportunities for artists in the wake of Covid-19, SCAH turned its website over to current and recent graduates of the MFA Program in Art Practice at Stanford University. Images of their work populates multiple pages throughout the organization’s presence; more information about the artists can be found here. Moving forward, SCAH’s website will continue to serve as a rotating online exhibition platform. Accordingly, SCAH currently seeks candidates to fill a newly established curator-at-large position on its executive board. Position details can be found here.
Membership
The organization recently revised its membership categories, making it easy to join SCAH at varying levels of support. Members can now access more information about members’ ongoing projects and connect with others in the SCAH community through the site.
SECAC
2020 Conference Updates
VCUarts will host SECAC 2020 from November 30 to December 11. The fully virtual conference will have over 80 breakout sessions, plenary events, and networking opportunities, including:
- Keynote Lecture by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Virtual Juried Exhibition at the Virtual Anderson at VCUarts, with remarks and Best-in-Show awards presented by Juror Sarah Eckhardt, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Racial Justice Town Hall hosted by the SECAC Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and facilitated by Marian Vassar
- SECAC Mentorship Program
To register for the conference, please visit: https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/10/home
The preliminary schedule is now available on our virtual conference platform:
https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/9/sessiongallery/schedule
Questions regarding the conference should be directed to Conference Director Carly Phinizy, secac2020@vcu.edu.
Call for Applications: SECAC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Awards
To recognize the exceptional work of those ndividuals historically underrepresented in SECAC, higher education, and arts institutions, applications are now being accepted for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Awards, which cover the cost of conference registration plus two years of SECAC membership for five recipients.
Qualifications:
- Those who have been underrepresented in their field for any reason, but especially due to race, are welcomed to apply.
- Preference is given to SECAC 2020 selected session chairs, presenters, or Juried Exhibition artists who are current members.
To Apply:
Submit a brief CV (3 pages max) with full contact information and a statement (250 words max) explaining how your participation furthers the goals of this award to SECACaction@gmail.com.
Deadline: 11/13/2020*
*Those selected for this award must complete membership and conference registration paperwork with SECAC prior to receiving funding.
William Morris Society in the United States
The William Morris Society in the United States strives to publicize the life and work of William Morris and his associates. Members receive the print newsletter, Useful & Beautiful and the biannual Journal of William Morris Studies, along with a digital version of the William Morris Magazine from London. The Society offers the annual Joseph R. Dunlap Memorial Fellowship and its activities encompass lectures, conferences, social gatherings, and site visits.
The society will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2021. We shall be presenting panels (virtually) at the Modern Language Association Annual Convention in January on the topics of “Morris and Biography: Letters Archives, Artifacts” and “Revisiting William Morris and the Arts and Crafts: Reception and Influence,” the second sponsored with the Forums on Book History, Print Cultures, and Lexicography. Our session at CAA, entitled “William Morris Today,” will hold its live discussion on Saturday, February 13 at 6:00pm. We will also have our business meeting and organize a virtual visit to the Grolier Club, where librarian Meghan Constantinou will show off the club’s remarkable Morris and private press-related related holdings. Visit our website for further information: www.morrissociety.org.
In the works are a new website, online presentations by Society members (two on collecting Morris’s books), and participation in worldwide exhibitions and a UK symposium to mark the 130th anniversary of the founding of the Kelmscott Press.