It’s definitely summer, but this weird academic year isn’t over yet. And there’s still lots of stuff from the department and beyond to enjoy and learn from.
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: Friday 10 July 7pm – end of term party! Not to be deterred by events, we’re moving our annual end of term party from Keynes library to the glorious online social world. And, of course, there’ll be a QUIZ, so make sure to be there with your art historical thinking caps on. Details and a link soon. (And if anyone reading this has experience with running online pub quizes and wouldn’t mind having their brains picked, please please do get in touch: l.topp@bbk.ac.uk.)
But meanwhile, there are several excellent research events to attend.
The Centre for Museum Cultures has organised two super-relevant online events over the rest of term:
On 30 June, 6pm, a live online event will feature the artist group Blast Theory, who, with unbelievable prescience, were artists in residence at the WHO and developed a fascinating piece in 2018 on pandemics, contagion, public health and politics.
And on Thursday 2 July, 6pm, again live online, will be a symposium on Museums in Wartime. A panel with three curators (from Historic England, the V&A and the National Gallery) will discuss how their institutions have responded to crisis during wartime, and what lessons might be learned by museums today.
More details and links for registration here.
The final paper in the explosively popular online Murray Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Art is happening on 7 July 4.50pm. Gabriele Neher will be giving a paper entitled: Back to Brescia: the self-fashioning of a Renaissance border town in Ferramola’s ‘Tournament in Piazza Maggiore’. If you would like to attend this or other seminars in the series, please write to l.jacobus@bbk.ac.uk with the words ‘SUBSCRIBE MURRAY’ in the subject-line.
Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum
In past blogs, I’ve drawn attention to the amazing year-long Insiders-Outsiders festival of events paying tribute to the contributions to British culture made by refugees from Nazi Europe. The leading light of the festival has been Monica Bohm-Duchen, Associate Lecturer in the department. Originally scheduled to wrap up in March 2020, the festival’s continued on online during Refugee week earlier in June. You can explore the online legacy of the festival here.
Finally, a reminder that there’s one day left to apply for a Wallace Studentship for students studying any of our MA programmes in the department. There are two awards, covering fees and including a stipend, for full-time students in 2020-21. These are generously funded by Graham and Denise Wallace, and are aimed at excellent students who would not be able to study without financial support. Deadline for applications is June 26, 2pm.
