Padua, 29 June 2023
SenSArt team is going to participate in the International Medieval Congress 2023 in Leeds (03/07-06/07).
SenSArt team is going to participate in the International Medieval Congress 2023 in Leeds (03/07-06/07). The four sessions, organised by Micol Long and Zuleika Murat, are entitled “Entanglements of Senses in Medieval Sacred Art and Religious Experience” and will all be held on 5th July. The sessions look at medieval religious art and experience between the 10th and the 15th century from the innovative lenses of sensory perception.
More information about the sessions are provided below.
First Session – Entanglements of Senses in Medieval Sacred Art and Religious Experience I: Perception – Performance (09.00-10.30 – Stage@leeds: Stage 3)
This session focuses on the performative and multisensorial dimension of medieval devotion in public settings in France, Southern Italy and Spain. The speakers will analyze very diverse objects, ranging from sculpted Vierges en Majesté to the combination of sounds (chants), smells (wax, incense) and visual elements in the Exultet liturgy, to the multi material paxes.
Moderator: Zuleika Murat, Università degli Studi di Padova
- Sara Carreño, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Kissing the Sacred: A Sensory Approach to the 15th-Century Pax from Burgos Cathedral (Spain)”
- Judith Utz, Institut für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit, “Sensing the Scroll. The Exultet Liturgy in Southern Italy (10th–14th century) and Multisensory Experiences of Community”
- Valentina Baradel, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Performative and Sensory Experiences on Some Vierges en Majesté from Auvergne (France): Preliminary Notes”
Second Session – Entanglements of Senses in Medieval Sacred Art and Religious Experience II: Perception – Smell (11.15-12.45 – Stage@leeds: Stage 3)
This session focuses in particular on the role played by smell in the experience of religious images and objects (whose aromatic allure was frequently enhanced through the use of oils and anointments), in Mass (with specific reference to the use and perception of censers in the Hispanic Middle Ages) and in anti-heretical narrative.
Moderator: Annette Kern-Stähler, Universität Bern
- Zuleika Murat, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Images that Smell. Scents, Flavours, and Perfumes in the Aesthetic Experience of Art (12th-15th century)”
- Alicia Girona Calvé, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, “Sacred Scent: The Representation of Censers in the Hispanic Middle Ages”
- Amélie De Las Heras, Madrid Institute of Advanced Study, “The perfume and the Heretic. The corruption of religious experience according to Lucas of Tuy (Iberian Peninsula, 1230’s)”
Third Session – Entanglements of Senses in Medieval Sacred Art and Religious Experience III: Material Culture – Manuscripts & Texts (14.15-15.45 – Stage@leeds: Stage 3)
This session focuses on texts and manuscripts, reconstructing how their devotional use could result in a synesthetic experience in both monastic and secular environments. The latter are approached through the analysis of late-medieval Flemish Books of Hours, while the former are studied by comparing 12th c. monastic didactical treatises and 15th c. multisensorial experience of preaching in the Netherlands.
Moderator: Lieke Smits, Universiteit Antwerpen
- Micol Long, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Synesthesia in Monastic Religious Experience, 12th-13th Centuries”
- Pieter Boonstra, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Visible Speech: The Multisensoriality of Middle Dutch Sermons and Preaching”
- Vittorio Frighetto, Università degli Studi di Padova, “The Multisensorial Dimension of Private Devotion as Attested by Flemish Books of Hours (14th-15th century)”
Fourth Session – Entanglements of Senses in Medieval Sacred Art and Religious Experience IV: Material Culture – Objects (16.30-18.00 – Stage@leeds: Stage 3)
This session will focus on medieval material culture in Germany and Italy, reconstructing how radically different kinds of religious objects (the famous MET sculpture of the Visitation, Tuscan paintings, and the altars of collegiate churches) could lead to unexpected (and entangled) sensory experiences.
Moderator: Micol Long, Università degli Studi di Padova
- Davide Tramarin, Università degli Studi di Padova, “Sensing the Eternal Birth: Mystical Vision ‘inside’ the Met’s Visitation Group”
- Chiara Demaria, University of Florence, “«Non pur vivaci ma che favellassero». Visual-Oral Narrative Strategies in Tuscan Religious Painting (13th-14th century)”
- Simone Wagner, Universität in Erfurt, “Clamor, bells and feces. Sensation in religious conflict during the 15th and 16th century”