The other Vitruvian man – Smithsonian magazine article on a recently discovered 15th century version of Vitruvius’s Universal Man

JISC digitisation – the problem of studying art history and images on the web and why words are the answer.

Academics warn of damage to Aboriginal rock art, including vandalism.

The Age and other media outlets (The Telegraph, ABC) report on a painting stolen from the NGV 12 years ago and suggest the gallery only just reported it. However, the NGV has since released a statement explaining that the painting has now been officially reported as stolen rather than just missing in order to claim insurance - Bonington Media Release.

Review of the Nicholas Chevalier exhibition on at Geelong Gallery until February 12th.

JSTOR announces limited free access to read articles to individuals without a subscription or access to an institutional subscription.

New resource - Online Visual Archive of Gothic Architecture and Sculpture in Ireland

Conference next week at Melbourne University - Dispersed Identities: Sexuality, Surrealism and the Global Avant-Gardes link

Calls for Papers, Funding and Jobs

A scholarship for medieval art history for graduate students enrolled at Melbourne University – link

Some opportunities at the Centre for the History of Emotions that might be of interest – link

Lecturer in the History of Art and Material Studies at University College London – link

Lecturer in Byzantine Art History at the Courtauld, London – link

CFP The Body in Visual Culture, Dartouth – link

CFP Visual dialogues: South Africa in conversation, Pretoria – link

CFP 23rd Annual International Sculpture conference, Chicago - link

Interference strategies for art

The Second International Conference on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections between Art, Science and Culture

22 – 23, June 2012, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

Deadline for Abstracts: March 30, 2012

The Transdisciplinary Imaging Conference seeks papers that explore the theme of ‘Interference’ within practices of contemporary image making. Today we’re saturated with images from all disciplines, whether it’s the creation of ‘beautiful visualisations’ for science, the torrent of images uploaded to social media services like Flickr, or the billions of queries made to vast visual data archives such as Google Images. These machinic interpretations of the visual and sensorial experience of the world are producing a new spectacle of media pollution. Machines are in many ways the new artists.

The notion of ‘Interference’ is posed here as an antagonism between production and seduction, as a redirection of affect, or as an untapped potential for repositioning artistic critique. Maybe art doesn’t have to work as a wave that displaces or reinforces the standardized protocols of data/messages, but can instead function as a kind of signal that disrupts and challenges perceptions. ‘Interference’ can stand as a mediating incantation that might create a layer between the constructed image of the ‘everyday’ given to us by science, technological social networks and the means of its construction.

The Transdisciplinary Imaging Conference wants papers that ask:

• Can art interfere with the chaotic storms of data visualization and information processing, or is it merely eulogizing contemporary media?

• Can we think of ‘interference’ as a key tactic for the contemporary image in disrupting and critiquing the continual flood of constructed imagery?

• Are contemporary forms and strategies of interference the same as historical ones? What kinds of similarities and differences exist?

The conference will explore areas related to: Painting, Drawing, Media Art, Film, Video, Photography, Computer visualization, Real-time imaging, Intelligent systems, Image Science.

Participants are asked to address at least one the following areas in their abstract:
-

• Expanded image
• Remediated image
• Hypermediacy
• Expanded film
• Imaging science
• Computer Vision
• Networked Image
• Immersion

Proposals

Abstracts for an individual paper relevant to the conference theme as described above are due in March, 2012. Abstracts for individual papers should be no longer than 250 words. Please provide full contact details with your abstract.

Refereeing of papers will be done by members of an expert review panel (to Australian DEST refereed conference paper standards). All selected peer reviewed papers will be published in the online conference proceedings.

Please submit by email to conference organiser Andrew Varano transimageconf@gmail.com

For more detail and enquiries see this website: http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/tiic/

Exhibition Dates: 1 February to 7th April

Opening Function: Saturday 4 February 2012, 3.00 – 5.00pm, Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield Campus.

Hany Armanious Azdeena Persius 2010 (detail) Australian Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale 2011; photo: Mara Comin, courtesy of the Australia Council for the Arts

Hany Armanious: The Golden Thread

Hany Armanious: The Golden Thread is the Australian premiere of works shown at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, presented alongside a suite of new works and an artist’s book developed for MUMA. The first major exhibition of Hany Armanious’ work in Melbourne, The Golden Thread builds upon a burgeoning critical reception that has grown around the artist’s work internationally over the past decade.

Born in Egypt in 1962 and migrating with his family to Australia six years later, Sydney-based Hany Armanious was the sole Australian representative at the Venice Biennale in 2011. Hany Armanious: The Golden Thread was developed by the Australia Council, with Doug Hall AM as Commissioner, and Anne Ellegood as Curator. Armanious’ critically acclaimed exhibition at Venice – arguably the most prestigious visual arts event on the international calendar – builds upon a burgeoning critical reception that has grown around the artist’s work internationally over the past decade.

Examining the relationship between readymade and figurative sculptural traditions, The Golden Thread presents cast sculptural forms that are simultaneously archaic and modern, formal and informal, uncanny and concrete. Hany Armanious creates works that reveal the energy, sensation and perversity embedded within inanimate things. His interest in bringing ‘nothingness into being’, and exploring the passage between the mythical and the mundane, are just some of the complex twists and inversions that abound in his sculptures. More on MUMA website.

 Adrian Paci: Per Speculum

Adrian Paci, Per Speculum, 2006 (still)

A profoundly thought-provoking 35mm film installation that draws upon cinema and myth to reflect upon narratives of exile, flight and resistance. An Albanian artist based in Milan, Adrian Paci addresses themes such as mobility, displacement, globalisation and cultural identity as a way to explore how personal histories are defined by social and political circumstances.

Originally a painter, Adrian Paci works in film, photography, sculpture and installation. Having fled his homeland Albania in 1997 during the civil war, his practice regularly explores the experience of exile and immigration. Paci addresses themes such as mobility, displacement, globalisation and cultural identity as a way to explore how personal histories are defined by social and political circumstances. His works are both private and universal, and present a complex synthesis of autobiography and collective narrative, documentation and dramatisation, fiction and reality. More at MUMA website.

Self Conscious: Contemporary Portraiture

Donna Bailey, Generation Y girl, 2004 (detail)

Featuring a range of works drawn from the Monash University Collection, this exhibition explores some of the many ways in which artists approach contemporary portraiture and represent different modes of identity.

Portraiture allows us to dwell on one of the most fascinating of subjects – ourselves. The act of self reflection and the study of others can be fraught, humourous and enlightening, whilst also revealing artistic processes and modes of philosophical address, laid bare in the work of art.

Artists include Donna Bailey, Mutly Çerkez, Simryn Gill, Ronnie van Hout, Eliza Hutchison, Linda Marrinon, Fiona McMonagle, Mike Parr, David Rosetzky, and others. MUMA website.

A catalogue and series of public programs and artist talks will accompany each exhibition.

Due: 29 February 2012

Churchill Fellowships are available to Australian Citizens over the age of 18 years. No upper age limit is prescribed but generally awards will be made to those whose major contribution to their field lies before them.

Churchill Fellowships are awarded for the purpose of pursuing an overseas investigative project of a kind that is not readily available in Australia.

 The value of every Fellowship is different as it is calculated based on the number of countries visited, the duration of the approved Fellowship and an estimated airfare. The average is currently well in excess of $20,000. See point 3 for more detail.

A Churchill Fellowship is usually a minimum of four weeks and generally a maximum of approximately six weeks although longer itineraries are not precluded if this can be justified. Any additional time outside of the approved Fellowship itinerary will be at the Fellow’s own expense.

Submission of Application. The application must be submitted in the State or Territory of residence of the applicant, irrespective of the place of employment. An application can be submitted in one State or Territory only.

For further details and to apply visit the Churchill Fellowship website: http://apply.churchilltrust.com.au/information/

School of Art - Faculty of the VCA and MCM

Salary: Level A $57,351 – $77,825 p.a. or Level B $81,925 – $97,283 p.a. plus 17% superannuation. Level of appointment is subject to qualifications and experience.

The position of Lecturer in Critical and Theoretical Studies will entail participation in the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching program and contribution to the institution’s research and culture through honours and postgraduate supervision, mentoring and through the appointee’s own research initiatives and publications.

Close date: 5 February 2012

For Position Description, Selection Criteria and application details see the Melbourne University website.

The Art Newspaper reports on the debate over whether to ‘conserve’ or repaint the Keith Haring mural in Collingwood.

Stuart Kelly takes aim at scientists study of at art appreciation  - Art and Science don’t mix

The Met in New York hires current Tate Modern curator of contemporary art “signalling that it intends to become a serious competitor in the field of contemporary art” - New York Times.

The Guggenheim Foundation proposes a new museum in Helsinki.

Is a sketchbook of watercolours depicting the Eureka Rebellion bought by Ballarat Art Gallery a forgery?

Paintings by Picasso and Mondrian stolen from Greece’s National Gallery

Palazzo Orsini in Rome, built on the remains of the Theatre of Marcellus is on the market if you have a spare 30 million euros.

The Art gallery of New South Wales is looking for a curator of Southeast Asian Art – closes February 3rd.

Tate Research Department, Millbank, London

Image via http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/moore/

Salary: £27,150 – £29,500 per annum, depending on the candidate’s skills and experience
Hours: Full time
Contract Type: Fixed term for two years.

The Research Department at Tate aims to develop the museum’s research potential, and in-depth research into the collection plays a key role in this. Tate has world class holdings of the works of the British sculptor Henry Moore, and together with The Henry Moore Foundation we are looking for a scholar to lead a programme of research into our Moore holdings and to stimulate new thinking about this pioneer of modern sculpture through online publications, research events, and displays.

With research experience in the field of modern British or international art and knowledge of the work of Moore or his contemporaries, you will lead an in-depth research project and help frame the vision for an online scholarly site. In particular, you will be responsible for preparing detailed catalogue entries on Moore’s sculptures at Tate. You will liaise with a range of scholars in the field and organise research events. You will also contribute proposals for displays of Moore’s works at Tate, and undertake associated curatorial tasks. You will have excellent research, writing and interpersonal skills, as well as an ability to manage projects.

Contact details/How to apply:

Please visit: www.tate.org.uk/about/workingattate/ to create an account by registering your details or if you are an existing user, log into your account. For all opportunities, we ask candidates to complete an online application form for the vacancy they are interested in. If you need an application form in an alternative format, please call us on 020 7887 4997. Once you have submitted your application, you can keep track of its progress by logging in to your account.

Closing date: 22 January 2012 by midnight.

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT (AKPIA@MIT) is pleased to announce its postdoctoral fellowship program for the academic year 2012-2013. The fellowship program is intended for scholars with a PhD in any field related to architecture – including architectural, art, landscape, and urban history; design, technology, computation, urban planning, anthropology, and archeaology – who are engaged in research on an Islamic topic. One to three fellowships will be granted. The fellowship duration can range from two months to a maximum of two semesters, or nine months, of residency, that will have to fall within the academic year. Fellows are expected to pursue their own research, give at least one public lecture, submit a substantial report on their research at the end of their fellowship to be electronically published by AKPIA@MIT, and participate in the program’s scholarly and academic activities during their stay at MIT. The fellowship award consists of monthly stipend not to exceed the amount of $3,145 (before taxes) per month and one roundtrip economy ticket for the fellow from his/her place of residence. Fellows will be responsible to find their own housing and health insurance during their fellowship period. AKPIA will provide library cards, email accounts at MIT, and a workplace in the AKPIA@MIT office that is shared with other fellows.

Deadline for application is March 1, 2012 and results will be announced by April 25, 2012.

The first required step to begin the application process is the completion and submission of the electronic application form at web.mit.edu/akpia/www/fellowshipapp.htm (all fields are required).

The accompanying documentation package can be e-mailed, preferably as a single PDF, to akpiafellowapp@MIT.EDU. This package must include a CV, a research proposal, a substantial writing sample or a portfolio, and two letters of recommendation.

Please follow the detailed instructions in web.mit.edu/akpia/www/fellowshipapp.htm .

The letters of recommendation can arrive separately either by mail or electronically. Applicants are encouraged to seek other sources of funding to supplement the fellowship award. Scholars with their own financial resources or who are on sabbatical and wish to apply to AKPIA fellowships are also welcome. AKPIA reserves the right to prorate its fellowship when combined with another grant or fellowship.

If unavailable electronically, additional printed materials can be mailed to:

2012-2013 Postdoctoral Fellowships

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

MIT, Room 10-390

Cambridge, MA 02139

For further information please email akpiafellowapp@MIT.EDU, or call 617- 253-1400, or visit us on the web

The Global Middle Ages: From Influence to Translation

Conference at the University of Edinburgh, 16-18 May 2012

European, Islamic and Chinese societies engaged in a broad practice of cultural, artistic and ideological exchange during the period that was known in Europe as the ‘Middle Ages’ and that coincided with classical phases in eastern and western Asia. Adopting and passing on traditions through trade, pilgrimage and a range of other encounters, peoples of diverse backgrounds developed patterns of representation and exchange that have gained the interest of scholars for several
centuries.

Beginning with suggestions of influence and evolving through to theories of translation, the study of societal interactions during this period has been a transitional one. As such, this conference seeks to explore the embodiment of cultural exchange through the art and architecture of the medieval period as well as the methodological shifts that have occurred in the study of this period of wide multi-cultural engagement.

In light of the transitions evident in both the art of the period and in significant studies of it, we welcome papers related to the topics of global interaction between the years of 400 and 1500 and the range of scholarly approaches to that material.

By examining traditional approaches to this material in relation to newer ways of engaging with it, this conference seeks to open discussion of new ways of approaching ideas of exchange and material in which cultural interventions are evident.

Papers focusing on a particular historical moment in China, India, Central Asia, the Middle East or Europe will be welcome and possible themes to consider include but are not limited to:

• Conceptions of influence, appropriation and translation in scholarly discourse and curatorial practice
• The exchange of visual and material culture through diplomatic gifts, pilgrimage, commerce and conquest
• Patterns of encounter and the process of exchange

Abstracts of 250 words to be submitted to gmaconference@gmail.com by 10 February, 2012. Enquiries to same email address.

Applications are invited for two 2-year interdisciplinary Post-doctoral Research Fellowships starting in October 2012 and based at CRASSH. The programme, funded jointly by the Mellon Foundation and the Isaac Newton Trust, is aimed at researchers working in any field of the arts, social sciences or humanities. The fellowships will enable post-doctoral fellows to consolidate their research and publication record while developing a related project or initiative at CRASSH during their two-year fellowship.

For further details of the post, please see the CRASSH website, http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/page/1084/call-for-applications-2012.htm

* Limit of tenure: Appointment is fixed term for two years and is non-renewable.

Closing Date: 2 March 2012 with Interview Date(s): Week of 24 April 2012