Actual and Virtual Reconstructions of the Past

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Virginia Raguin

Organizer Affiliation

College of the Holy Cross

Presider Name

Virginia Raguin

Paper Title 1

"To enlarge and amplify the noble church": Benedictine Visual Culture in the Late Middle Ages

Presenter 1 Name

Anne Heath

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Hope College

Paper Title 2

Digital Recreation of Processional Experiences at Vadstena, Sweden, Motherhouse of the Birgittine Order

Presenter 2 Name

Corine Schleif

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Arizona State Univ.

Paper Title 3

Stained Glass and Meditative Space in Italy: Today and in the Past

Presenter 3 Name

Nancy Thompson

Presenter 3 Affiliation

St. Olaf College

Paper Title 4

"Boats against the Current": Envisioning the Past at Hammond Castle and The Cloisters

Presenter 4 Name

Martha Easton

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Seton Hall Univ.

Start Date

16-5-2015 10:00 AM

Session Location

Schneider 1220

Description

Pre-modern culture prioritized focused space for the achievement of socially interactive ritual. Ritual demanded embodiment via sound, sight, touch, and smell. Virtually all of the visual arts and a considerable amount of the aural found their most valued roles in service to these activities. How do we today capture the actuality of this past, when mass vestments, service books, wall paintings, altar hangings, stained glass, sculpture and painted altarpieces collectively established space and purpose? Museums such as the Cloisters have in the past collected objects within evocative buildings. Today we are facing a public highly receptive to mixed media and interactive thinking; we also have technology that allows more facile visual juxtapositions of disparate objects. The session seeks active discussion from the audience as well as participants to address these contemporary expectations. Virginia C. Raguin, College of the Holy Cross