Symposiums
FORTHCOMING SYMPOSIUMS
Organized by the Power Institute, University of Sydney, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
DATES
Friday 29 November, 2013 | University of Sydney
Saturday 30 November, 2013 | Art Gallery of New South Wales
OUTLINE
Honoring the retirement of Professor John Clark, this symposium will celebrate an exceptional scholar and ask vital questions about the future of the field: papers are invited not only from those who have worked with Professor Clark over his career but from scholars worldwide with an interest in the field that he has helped to shape. Reflecting some of his key contributions to this field, papers might address: frameworks for understanding Asian modernities; interactions between Asian and Euramerican artists, cultural producers and institutions; comparative analyses of different Asian art cultures; as well as the positioning of Asian art cultures in contemporary, global contexts.
In addition to visual arts and performance, submissions are invited on research areas as diverse as architecture, popular culture, literary studies and film. The symposium particularly encourages theoretical and supra-national issues, such as: comparative modernities; the construal of tradition; Asian arts and artists in international discourses; issues of reception, audience and gate-keeping; allegory and the national; cultural strategies of resistance or refraction to globalizing agendas, and so on.
Collectively, this symposium asks, what is at stake in the study of modern and contemporary Asian art cultures, particularly as we head into what is being styled “the Asian Century”?
A selection of papers will also be published after the symposium as a peer-reviewed volume by Power Publications.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Abstracts:
Proposals should include:
1. Full name
2. Contact information
3. Current affiliation/position
3. Paper title
4. Abstract (200 words)
DEADLINE
All submissions should be sent to by April 17, 2013.
Please include “Paper Proposal-Asian Art Symposium” in your e-mail subject line. The organizing committee will make its decision rapidly, with presenters being notified by April 30, 2013.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further enquiries should be directed to with “Asian Art Symposium enquiry” in the e-mail subject line. Full program, specific times and dates will be posted in June 2013.
The symposium is proudly presented by the Power Institute in partnership with the Art Gallery of NSW.
Image (detail): Wadachi Tomo-o, Self-portrait with Spectacles, 1923, oil on canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama.
PREVIOUS SYMPOSIUMS
DATES
Thursday 20 – Friday 21 September, 2012 | Australian Institute of Art History, University of Melbourne
Friday 9 – Saturday 10 November, 2012 | Power Institute, University of Sydney and Art Gallery of New South Wales
A COLLABORATIVE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
Bernard Smith could be said to have established Australian Art History. His work was seminal for histories of Pacific encounter and he also was also author to some of the country’s most eloquent memoirs. The Symposium brought together an international field of scholars from art history, anthropology, history and literature, as well as curators and writers, to discuss all aspects of Bernard Smith’s wide-ranging work and explore and assess its impact and legacy.
The symposium has now concluded after an extremely successful two days in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. The Power Institute thanks all speakers, attendees and partners for their participation in the event. A selection of images from the symposium in Sydney on Friday 9 November, can be viewed at our image gallery here.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Please contact Susan Thomas Email: or Email: for more details.
DOWNLOAD PROGRAM
The full program including abstracts can be downloaded here:
MELBOURNE PROGRAM (PDF)
SYDNEY PROGRAM (PDF)
The symposium was proudly presented by the Power Institute and the University of Sydney in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Art Gallery of NSW.
Images of Bernard Smith courtesy of Kate Challis