Iconology meets Film Studies

The Iconology Research Group – an initiative of the Universities of Leuven and Utrecht – advances iconology as a field and method within the context of visual studies and image sciences (Bildwissenschaften). The IRG reviews and rethinks original methodologies in the light of new approaches, asks how other disciplines have profited from iconology and how they in turn inspire and/or reinvent iconology. Beyond methodological reflection, the IRG singles out three central research themes: the production and technologies of pictures, the significance and agency of images, and the transfer and migration of motifs. The IRG is a platform for discussion, research, and collaboration in Belgium and the Netherlands and opens up ongoing projects to international developments and perspectives. 

Annually, the IRG organizes an “Iconology meets…”symposium that focuses on the relation between iconology and other relevant fields, featuring a methodological discourse, historical research into the interdisciplinary roots of iconology, as well as specific case studies. The first two editions, Iconology meets Anthropology and Iconology meets Visual Studies were held in Leuven and Louvain la Neuve.

The third edition, Iconology meets Media Studies, takes place on 5 March 2010 in Utrecht. The 3rd symposium will look back at the historical ties of film and iconology in the works of Aby Warburg, Erwin Panofsky, and Rudolf Arnheim, and at their current relation, asking – in the light of recent publications (e.g. Angela dalle Vacche, Philippe Alain Michaud) and projects (e.g. exhibitions on the artistic roots of Disney, on David Lynch, and Tim Burton) – where the two need and advance new theoretical and methodological approaches. In order to identify the potential of iconographical and iconological approaches more closely, a thematic sub focus lies on the analysis of Netherlandish motifs in visual culture, as well as how and why Belgium and Dutch filmmakers, artists, and research ers study the interrelation of art and film.

Organization:

Ann Sophie Lehmann

Barbara Baert

Melinda Jacobs

Programme

9:30 -18:00 

Friday, March 5, 2010 

Utrecht University 

U Theatre Studio-T, Kromme Nieuwe Gracht 20 Utrecht

9.30

Welcome & Introduction

Barbara Baert, Ann-Sophie Lehmann (University of Leuven, Utrecht University)

Morning Chair: Ann-Sophie Lehmann

10.00

Still/Movie. A Dialogue.

Frank Kessler (Filmstudies, Utrecht University) & Jeroen Stumpel (Art History, Utrecht University)

11.00

Whatever You Wanted to Know about Iconology but were Afraid to Ask Film Studies

Lorenz Engell/André Wendler (University of Weimar)

11.45

From the Ossuary: Animation and the Danse Macabre

Edwin Carels (Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent)

13.00

LUNCH BREAK

Afternoon Chair: Sandra Kisters (Utrecht University)

14.00

Windows, Doors and Mirrors: Framing in the Films of Luchino Visconti

Ivo Blom (Free University, Amsterdam)

14.45

Van Gogh’s Mass Media After-life: Some Iconological Reflections

Margriet Schavemakers (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)

15.30

TEA BREAK

16.00

Borderline Ethics and Civil Spectatorship in the Films of Herman Asselberghs, Renzo Martens and Els Opsomer

Hilde van Gelder (University of Leuven)

16.45

Iconology as Performance in Fashion

Anneke Smelik (University of Nijmegen)

18.00

DRINKS