The GTU welcomes prominent scholars of late medieval and early modern European art to discuss the physical instrumentality of religious paintings, manuscripts, and objects. Presentations by Kathryn Rudy (University of St. Andrews) and Reindert Falkenburg (NYU-Abu Dhabi) will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Christopher Ocker (GTU).
Niklaus Largier (University of California, Berkeley), author of Speculative Sensuality: Contemplation and Speculation in the Middle Ages, Fiona Griffiths (Stanford University), author of Nuns' Priests' Tales: Men and Salvation in the Medieval Women's Monastic Life, and Kathryn Barush (GTU), author of Imaging Pilgrimage: Art as Embodied Experience, will be joined by Olga Yunak (GTU), a specialist in Eastern Orthodox devotional art, and Justin Grosnick (GTU), a specialist in contemporary Hindu domestic shrines, to explore connections between the physical dimensions of medieval and Renaissance art with contemporary Western, Eastern Orthodox, and Hindu practices.
The symposium concludes with a reception to unveil the Doug Adams Gallery exhibition, Sacred Mobility: The Travels of Hindu & Eastern Orthodox Holy Images. This exhibition expands the topic of art and embodiment to explore how contemporary home shrines from the Eastern Christian and Hindu traditions recontextualize sacred art and artifacts, establishing new, living relationships with viewers and practitioners. Guest Curators Olga Yunak and Justin Grosnick will lead a tour of the exhibition at 5 pm.