Open Call for Participation:
Objects in Motion

We invite proposals from academics, museum scholars, and artists to participate in a new digital publishing initiative supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the peer-reviewed, open-access journal British Art Studies (BAS), which is jointly published by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (PMC) and the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA). This initiative calls for a series of interdisciplinary articles and features centered on the broad theme of “Objects in Motion” to appear in future issues of BAS.

The movement of objects and ideas across cultures represents a growing field of art historical research. The aim of this series is to explore the physical and material circumstances by which art is transmitted, displaced, and recontextualized, creating new markets, audiences, and meanings. We seek proposals that consider cross-cultural dialogues between Britain and the United States, focusing on any aspect of visual and material culture produced before 1980. Proposals should outline the ways in which the project/article will take advantage of the possibilities offered by the digital platform.

Authors of accepted proposals will be invited to a think-tank workshop at the Terra Foundation’s property in Giverny, France, May 3–5, 2018. The workshop will offer the opportunity to discuss the intellectual rationale of the projects in tandem with the digital tools entailed in their realization. Building on these discussions, BAS will work with a small group of selected authors to develop a series of single-authored or collaboratively written articles and features that examine cross-cultural dialogues between Britain and the United States. All articles will be subject to peer review, as is standard for BAS.

Proposals should include the following:

• A description of no more than one thousand words that outlines the intellectual premise of the project and how it speaks to the theme of “Objects in Motion.”
• The description must include details of how the project will take advantage of the digital platform. We are not looking for technical specifications but for a vision statement of how the digital platform will support or enhance the development and/or presentation of the project.
• Names and short CVs (no more than two pages) for all co-authors and contributors.

Funding for travel and accommodation in Giverny will be provided to authors selected to participate in the workshop.

Inquiries and completed application materials in the form of PDFs should be sent to [email protected]. The deadline for applications is 11:59 pm GMT on Friday, September 1, 2017.