CALL FOR PAPERS
 
COLOUR IN THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES:
CONNEXIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE, ARTS, AND TECHNOLOGY

International conference, Technische Universität Berlin, 28-30 June 2012
 
Knowledge of how to use, combine, analyse, and understand colour has always
been widely distributed, if not dispersed. Painters and architects, dyers
and printers, pigment producers and merchants, physicists and chemists,
natural historians and physiologist, among others, have been dealing with
colour, its properties, mixtures, harmonies, meanings and uses. For long
periods, different communities that were concerned with colour and the
knowledge about it did not interact ? at least so it appears. One of the
first to come up with fundamental claims concerning colour in full
generality was Newton whose 1704Opticks indeed quickly became a common
reference point for most of those who reflected on colour. Throughout the
18th century, however, the reactions toNewton remained wildly
controversial, from unrestricted appraisal via indifference to open and
fierce opposition. Several attempts to reconcile Newton?s account with
practitioner?s knowledge remained unsuccessful, and this was still the case
in early 19th century, when the physiology of colour perception opened yet
another field of colour research.

The central aim of the conference is to bring together scholars who are
interested in how the various strands of colour use and knowledge were
interwoven and connected. We invite contributions that address those
connexions: between traditions and specific accounts in experimental
philosophy, painting, natural history, chemistry, dyeing, trading,
producing, standardizing, etc. While the period covered is restricted to
17th and 18th centuries, the geographic frame is as open as possible and
encompasses European and non-European cultures likewise. The conference
will not have parallel sessions, since we aim at a truly transdisciplinary
discussion. There will be four keynote lectures by Jenny Balfour-Paul
(Exeter University), Ulrike Boskamp (Freie UniversitätBerlin), Sarah
Lowengard (The Cooper Union, New York), and Alan Shapiro (University of
Minnesota), and a larger number of contributed papers. The conference is
organized by Magdalena Bushart (History of Art, TU Berlin), Reinhold Reith
(History of Technology, Salzburg University), and Friedrich Steinle
(History of Science, TU Berlin).

Accepted presentations will have a timeslot of 25 minutes talk plus 15
minutes discussion. An application for external funding has been submitted:
in case it will be successful, we shall be able to support every accepted
proposal with travel and accommodation.

Submissions should enclose an abstract of no more than 500 words and
information about name, institutional affiliation and e-mail address of the
author, plus a biographical note of no more than 100 words. They should be
sent by e-mail (preferably in pdf format) to: nina.krampitz@tu-berlin.de and
arrive not later than 27 February 2012. Proposals will be reviewed, and
notification of the result will be given by end of March 2012.

For further information, please contact friedrich.steinle@tu-berlin.de