The museums of Bruges and the universities of Louvain and Nijmegen have announced an international conference to be held on 12-14 May 2009 in connection with the exhibition on the era of Charles the Bold to be held in the Groeninge Museum in Spring and Summer 2009. The organizers have issued a call for papers; deadline: 15 December 2008.

Organizers’ announcement

International conference, Bruges, 12-14 May 2009: The splendour of Burgundy (1419-1482): a multidisciplinary approach

Organised by the Musea Brugge and the Alamire Foundation (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), in collaboration with the Concertgebouw Brugge and the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

In the framework of the exhibition ‘Charles the Bold: the splendour of Burgundy’ (27 March-21 July 2009, Bruges, Groeninge Museum and Church of Our Lady; in cooperation with Historisches Museum Bern and Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna).

Conference theme

In the course of the fifteenth century, the reputation of the Burgundian court rose to an unprecedented level, catapulted forward by ever growing territorial ambitions and accumulation of wealth. This reached a climax during the reign of Charles the Bold (1433-1477), the living embodiment of the pomp and pageantry of the Burgundian court and a generous patron of the fine arts.
Rather than focusing on a single domain, the conference aims to shed light on Burgundian court culture as an organic whole, between the start of the reign of Philip the Good (1419) and the death of Mary of Burgundy (1482). It is intended to provide a forum for new research from the fields of History, History of Art, Literature and Musicology. To this end, two plenary assemblies will present a multidisciplinary approach to the topics of ‘Power of/and representation’ and ‘Feast culture’, while a number of specialised sessions will allow in-depth exploration and discussion of more specific aspects of the conference theme.

Call for papers

For the specialised sessions, we invite proposals for panel sessions as well as for individual papers of thirty minutes (excl. discussion time). The function and meaning of concepts and artefacts (or their portrayal) in the context of the Burgundian court culture can be discussed from multiple perspectives and (inter-)disciplinary approaches. Possible themes include (but are not limited to) the relationship between courtly and urban networks; gift exchange and its remnants in artefacts, literature and music; liturgical history of the court and its related institutions; administrative and governmental history.

Proposals for both panel sessions and individual papers in the form of an abstract not exceeding 300 words should be sent as an e-mail attachment to symposium@brugge.be by 15 December 2008. Notification of acceptance will be given by 30 January 2008. The conference language is English.

Programme Committee

–     Prof. dr. Wim Blockmans, NIAS – Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Leiden University (NL)
–     Till-Holger Borchert, Musea Brugge/Groeningemuseum (B)
–     Prof. dr. David Fallows, Manchester University (UK)
–     Nele Gabriëls, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Alamire Foundation (B)
–     Prof. dr. Eberhard König, Freie Universität Berlin (D)
–     Prof. dr. Johan Oosterman, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (NL)
–     dr. Manfred Sellink, Musea Brugge (B)
–     Anne van Oosterwijk, Musea Brugge/Groeningemuseum (B)
–     dr. André Vandewalle, Stadsarchief Brugge (B)

Organisation Committee

–     Bart Demuyt & Nele Gabriëls (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Alamire Foundation; B)
–     Till-Holger Borchert, Manfred Sellink, Anne van Oosterwijk & Elviera Velghe (Musea Brugge, B)
–     Jeroen Vanacker & Katrien van Eeckhoutte (Concertgebouw Brugge, B)

For further information, please send an e-mail to symposium@brugge.be

Additional information

Dates

Tuesday 12, Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 May 2009
Tuesday 12 May (afternoon) at the City Hall, followed by conference dinner

Location

Concertgebouw Bruges, Belgium

Concerts

13 May: Psallentes, Concertgebouw Bruges
14 May: La Morra, Concertgebouw Bruges

Nocturne

On 13 May, participants of the conference have the possibility to visit the exhibition from 17.30 to 19.30h.

Registration

Before 1 May; places are limited: max. 150 participants allowed.

Language

English