Schedule

The Visual and Material Perspectives on East Asia (VMPEA) workshop is pleased to announce the Spring 2023 schedule. All the in-person events will meet on selected Wednesdays from 4:45 to 6:45 pm CT at Cochrane-Woods Art Center 152 unless otherwise noted. For the online events or those who would like to join us remotely for the in-person events, we will send out the registration link prior to these events. You are welcome to consult the VMPEA website for further information about these events, and please subscribe to our listserv here to receive event notifications.

Spring 2023 Schedule

March 23

Juliane Noth, Professor of East Asian Art History, Freie Universität Berlin

“Debating the Past and the Future of Chinese Art at the Hangzhou National Art School, 1928–1937”

[This event is on Thursday at 4:45–6:45pm]

 *This event is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with support from a U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center Grant.

April 7 

Wang Zonghui, Visiting PhD Candidate, UChicago

“An Exploration on the spatial composition of the mKhar rdzong Cave in mKhar rtse Valley, mNga’ ris, Tibet”

(西藏阿里卡孜河谷帕尔宗坛城窟图像程序研究)

*This event will be conducted in English.

[This event is on Friday at 4:45–6:45pm]

April 19

Zhiyan Yang, PhD Candidate, Art History, UChicago

“Exhibiting Contemporary Architecture of China: Experiments and Cross-Cultural Dialogues, 1995–2005”

April 26

Alice Casalini, PhD Candidate, Art History, UChicago

“Things that Look Back: the Malleable Space of Gandharan Art”

*This event is co-sponsored by RAVE workshop.

April 28

Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History and the College, UChicago

“Outdoor Exhibitions in Beijing, 1979”

 [This event is on Friday at 4–6pm]

*This event is co-sponsored by APEA workshop.

If you are interested in attending the reception after the workshop, please RSVP.

May 3

Lu Yun-chen, Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture, DePaul University

Title TBD

May 17

Sizhao Yi, PhD Candidate, Art History, UChicago

“Material Encounters: Chen Hongshou’s Early Paintings of Objects”

Please feel free to contact Lucien (lesun@uchicago.edu) and Li (jiangli@uchicago.edu) with any questions you might have, and we look forward to seeing many of you at the workshops!

All the best,

Lucien Sun and Li Jiang

VMPEA Coordinators, 2022–2023

The Visual and Material Perspectives on East Asia (VMPEA) workshop is pleased to announce the Winter 2023 schedule. All the in-person events will meet on selected Wednesdays from 4:45 to 6:45 pm CT at Cochrane-Woods Art Center 152 unless otherwise noted. For the online events or those who would like to join us remotely for the in-person events, we will send out the registration link prior to these events. You are welcome to consult the VMPEA website for further information about these events, and please subscribe to our listserv here to receive event notifications.

Winter 2023 Schedule 

January 12

Sylvia Wu, PhD Candidate, Art History, UChicago

“Inventing Lingshan’s Ritual Environments: Muslim Devotional Practices in Little Ice Age Quanzhou”

[This is an online event, and we will meet from 4:45–6:45pm]

January 25

Martin Bai, MAPH Student, UChicago

“Song literati mural paintings: a ‘mirror-medium’ and new research on Su Shi”

February 8

Ricarda Brosch, PhD Candidate, History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art & Assistant Curator, V&A

“The Pictures of Ancient Playthings 古玩圖 Revisited: imperial art for the afterlife?”

[This is an online event, and we will meet from 11:30am–1:30pm]

March 1

Zhiyan Yang, PhD Candidate, Art History, UChicago

“Exhibiting Contemporary Architecture of China: Experiments and Cross-Cultural Dialogues, 1995–2005”

Please feel free to contact Lucien (lesun@uchicago.edu) and Li (jiangli@uchicago.edu) with any questions you might have, and we look forward to seeing many of you at the workshops!

The Visual and Material Perspectives on East Asia (VMPEA) workshop is pleased to announce the Spring 2022 schedule. Events will be held on Wednesdays from 4:45 to 6:45 pm CT at CWAC 152 unless noted otherwise (there will be two Friday sessions this quarter). For the online event or those who would like to join us remotely, we will send out the registration links prior to the events.

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April 15 (Friday)

 Wu Hang, PhD Student, Department of Cinema and Media Studies

“Information Processing: On Asian Cyberscapes in the Cyberpunk New Wave”

*Co-Sponsored with the Digital Media Workshop*

April 20 

Yan Yang, Assistant Professor of Art History, Music and Art, Borough of Manhattan Community College CUNY

“Tracing the Formation of a National Style: Yamato-e from World Fairs to Wartimes”

Discussant: Minori Egashira, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History

[This event is online]

May 6 (Friday) 

Xu Jin, Assistant Professor of Art History and Asian Studies, Vassar College

“Comparing Acts, Matching Images: Filial Sons and Reclusive Sages on the Funerary Couch of a Sogdian Immigrant in 6th-Century China”

Discussant: TBA

May 18 

Jin Yan, PhD Student, Department of Art History

“From Paper to Pottery: Imperial Yang for the Production of Dayazhai Ceramic Wares in Nineteenth-century China” 

June 1

Ranxu Yin, Visiting Graduate Student, Department of Art History; Ph.D Candidate, Central Academy of Fine Arts

“Exhibitions as Forms of Human Interaction: From a Perspective of the ‘Structures’ of Spaces”

Discussant: TBA

Dear VMPEA community,

The Visual and Material Perspectives on East Asia (VMPEA) workshop is pleased to announce its Winter 2022 schedule. Currently, we are planning to have two online events, and two in-person hybrid events for this quarter. All the sessions will be held on Wednesdays from 4:45 to 6:45 pm CT unless noted. The in-person events will meet in CWAC 152; For the online events or those who would like to join us remotely, we will send out the registration links prior to the events. Meanwhile, the format is subjected to changes depending on the COVID situation and the regulations of the university.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

+++++++++++++++++++++

January 12 

Stephanie Lee, Ph.D student, Department of Art History, Northwestern University

“The Social Lives of Picture Postcards”

Discussant: Kaeun Park, Ph.D student, Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan

(online)

February 23

Meng Zhao, Ph.D Candidate, Department of Art History, UChicago

“Theatrical Beholding: Visualizing Gaze in the Southern Song Court Milieu (1127-1279)”

Discussant: TBA

(in-person hybrid)

March 2 

Valentina Boretti, Research Associate, Department of History, SOAS

“New Wine in Old Bottles? The Re-tagging of Playthings in Twentieth-Century China”

Discussant: Zhang Xi, Ph.D Candidate, Department of Art History, UChicago

(online)

March 16 

Ma Boyao, Visiting Graduate Student, UChicago/ Ph.D student, Archeology Department, Sichuan University

“The Architectural Space and Architectural Image of a 5th-century Tomb in Xi’an”

 Discussant: Li Jiang, Ph.D Student, Department of Art History, UChicago

(in-person hybrid)

*The VMPEA’s in-person events are open to all invitees who are compliant with UChicago vaccination requirements and, because of ongoing health risks, particularly to the unvaccinated, participants are expected to adopt the risk mitigation measures (masking and social distancing, etc.) appropriate to their vaccination status as advised by public health officials or to their individual vulnerabilities as advised by a medical professional. Public convening may not be safe for all and carries a risk for contracting COVID-19, particularly for those unvaccinated. Participants will not know the vaccination status of others and should follow appropriate risk mitigation measures.

Dear VMPEA community,

The Visual and Material Perspectives on East Asia (VMPEA) workshop is pleased to announce the Autumn 2021 schedule. All the in-person events will meet on selected Wednesdays from 4:45 to 6:45 pm in CWAC 152 unless noted. For the online events or those who would like to join us remotely, we will send out the registration links prior to the events.

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October 13

Sylvia Wu, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History, UChicago

“Inscribing Piety: Monumental Inscriptions from Quanzhou”

Discussant: Wei-Cheng Lin, Associate Professor, Department of Art History, UChicago

October 27

Lucien Sun, PhD Student, Department of Art History

“Flipping Over and Stretching Out: Reading an Accordion-Fold Painting”

Discussant: Shiqiu Liu, PhD candidate, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne.

[This is an online event]

November 10

Stephanie Lee, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History, Northwestern University

“The Social Lives of Colonial Picture Postcards (1906-1933)”

Discussant: Kaeun Park, PhD student, Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan

[This is an online event]

December 1

Zhengqian Li, MAPH Student, UChicago

“Whiskey and Tobacco: The Imperialist Symbols in Mu Shiying’s “Shanghai Fox-trot” and Shi Zhecun’s “Si Xizi’s Business””

Discussant: TBA

December 3

Toby Wu, MAPH Student, UChicago

“Reconstituting the Japanese Housewife: Idemitsu Mako’s Televisual Charged Field in Kiyoko’s Situation (1989)”

Discussant: TBA

[This is an online event co-hosted with the APEA workshop, and will meet from 3:00 to 5:00 pm]

*Disclaimer on in-person events:

These convenings are open to all invitees who are compliant with UChicago vaccination requirements and, because of ongoing health risks, particularly to the unvaccinated, participants are expected to adopt the risk mitigation measures (masking and social distancing, etc.) appropriate to their vaccination status as advised by public health officials or to their individual vulnerabilities as advised by a medical professional. Public convening may not be safe for all and carries a risk for contracting COVID-19, particularly for those unvaccinated. Participants will not know the vaccination status of others and should follow appropriate risk mitigation measures.

We are excited to share our spring quarter calendar. Like in the autumn and winter, we will have to conduct all sessions virtually via Zoom. Unless otherwise marked out, all VMPEA meetings will take place on Wednesdays from 4:45 pm to 6:45 pm (CDT). The individual meeting link will be sent out along with detailed talk abstract via VMPEA lists and website one week before the talk for registration.

We look forward to seeing you via Zoom and hope you will share this with all who might also be interested in joining our community. Please direct questions and inquiries to Yifan Zou (yifanzou@uchicago.edu) and Minori Egashira (egashiram@uchicago.edu).

Hope you are staying safe and healthy!

Yifan + Minori
VMPEA Graduate Student Coordinators 2020-21

Zheng Shuang, Both are Good Cats 都是好貓, woodcut, 1996, 23*28cm

*Apr 9 (Friday), 4:45 pm – 6:45 pm CDT
Speaker: Boyoung Chang (Postdoctoral Fellow East Asian Art, Department of Art History)
Discussant: Saena Ryu Dozier
Title: Faraway, so close: North Korea in Contemporary Visual Culture

Apr 21
Speaker: Zhenru Zhou (PhD candidate, Department of Art History)
Discussant: Katherine Tsiang (Associate Director, Center for the Art of East Asia Chinese Art)
Title: Anarchitectonic Pagoda Images from Late-medieval Dunhuang

*May 7, 12pm CDT* (note Friday and noon time)
Speaker: Wang Lianming (Assistant Professor of Chinese Art History, Heidelberg University)
Discussant: Yin Wu (PhD candidate, Department of Art History)
Title: Revisiting the Jesuit Gardens in Eighteenth-Century Beijing

May 12 & 19 (Qualifying Papers)
*Collaboration with the RAVE Workshop (https://voices.uchicago.edu/researchartvisualevidence/)

Session One (May 12)
Jenny Harris (PhD student, Department of Art History)
Title: Worlds of Wire: Ruth Asawa’s Sculpture

Li Jiang (PhD student, Department of Art History)
Title: Replicating Death: The Gold Funerary Mask of Princess of the State of Chen (1018)

Stephanie Strother (PhD student, Department of Art History)
Title: “Fashionable Things”: The Designs and Designers of the Atelier Martine

Session Two (May 19)
Lex Ladge (PhD student, Department of Art History)
Title: Hieronian Impositions: Space and Policy in 3rd Century BCE Syracuse

Adriana Obiols Roca (PhD student, Department of Art History)
Title: Mesótica II: Central American Art After “Latin America”

Lucien Sun (PhD student, Department of Art History)
Title: A Print in Flux: Rethinking the Print of Guan Yu from Khara-Khoto

June 2
Speaker: Sooa Im McCormick (Curator of Korean Art, Cleveland Museum of Art)
Discussant: Yoon-Jee Choi (PhD student, Department of Art History)
Title: Korean Paper, a Trendy Item in Late Ming Literati Circle

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are excited to share our Winter quarter calendar! In keeping with the university’s mandate to contain the spread of COVID-19, we will continue to conduct the workshop remotely for the entirety of the Winter quarter. Unless otherwise noted, all VMPEA meetings will take place on Wednesdays at 4:45 pm to 6:45 pm (CST) via Zoom. The individual meeting link will be sent out along with detailed talk abstract via VMPEA and related listservs approximately one week prior to the talk for registration. Below is our schedule for the quarter:

Attributed to Qu Ding (Chinese, active ca. 1023–ca. 1056), Summer Mountains, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, 1050, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Winter Quarter (2020 – 2021)

(4:45 pm – 6:45 pm every Wednesday or Friday)

Jan 13

Speaker: Maya Stiller (Associate Professor of Korean Art and Visual Culture, The University of Kansas)

Discussant: Zhenru Zhou (PhD candidate, Department of Art History)

Title: Elite Graffiti, Kinship, and Social Capital: Pilgrimages to Kŭmgangsan in Pre-1900 Korea

Jan 27

Speaker: Cybele Tom (PhD student, Department of Art History)

Discussant: Alice Casalini (PhD student, Department of Art History)

Tentative Title: Seeking Balance: Material and Meaning in a Polychrome Guanyin

Feb 10

Speaker: Meng Zhao (PhD candidate, Department of Art History)

Discussant: Tingting Xu (Lecturer in Art History, Columbia University)

Tentative Title: Crafting Sensuality: Tactual Erotics In Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers

Feb 24

Speaker: Sophia Walker (PhD student, Joint program: Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Department of Cinema and Media Studies)

Discussant: Ethan Waddell (PhD student, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations)

Tentative Title: Hunnu Rock: Mongolian Metal and a Global Folk Metal Subculture

Mar 12 (Friday)

Speaker: Melissa McCormick (Professor of Japanese Art and Culture, Harvard University)

Discussant: Chelsea Foxwell (Associate Professor of Art History and the College, Department of Art History)

Title: Calligraphy and Haptic Poetics in the Art of Ōtagaki Rengetsu

We are looking forward to seeing you via Zoom! Please direct questions and inquiries to Minori Egashira (egashiram@uchicago.edu) and Yifan Zou (yifanzou@uchicago.edu).

Minori and Yifan

VMPEA Graduate Student Coordinators 2020-21

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are excited to share our autumn quarter calendar. Due to the University of Chicago’s continuation of remote teaching/learning, we will conduct all sessions virtually for the autumn quarter. Unless otherwise noted, all VMPEA meetings will take place on Wednesdays at 4:45 pm to 6:45 pm (Chicago local time, note there will be a switch from CDT to CST on Nov 1st) via Zoom. The individual meeting link will be sent out along with detailed talk abstract via VMPEA lists one week prior to the talk for registration.

Anonymous, Herd of Deer in a Maple Grove 丹楓呦鹿圖, ink and colors on silk, Five Dynasties Period (907-960), National Palace Museum Taipei.

Oct. 7 (Wed)
Aurelia Campbell (Associate Professor, Art, Art History, and Film Faculty, Boston College)
“The Tibetan Stupa as a Protective Force in Early Ming Burials”
Discussant: Wei-Cheng Lin (Associate Professor of Art History and the College, Department of Art History)

Oct. 21 (Wed)
Nancy P. Lin (PhD candidate, Department of Art History)
“Sites at the Periphery: Performance, Photography, and the Making of Beijing’s ‘East Village’”
Discussant: Madeline Eschenburg (Lecturer, College of Arts and Sciences, Washburn University)

Nov. 6 (Fri)
Dorothy Wong (Professor, Mcintire Department of Art, University of Virginia)
“Colossal Buddha Images in China, Past and present”
Discussant: Jiayi Zhu (PhD student, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations)
*Note: This talk will take place on Friday from 4:45-6:45 pm (CST)

Nov 18 (Wed)
Alan Longino (PhD student, Department of Art History)
“Yutaka Matsuzawa and Looking Around Quantum Art”
Discussant: Orianna Cacchione (Curator of Global Contemporary Art, Smart Museum)

Dec 2 (Wed)
Or Porath (Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations)
“Japan’s Forgotten God: Jūzenji in Literature and the Visual Arts”
Discussant: Ian Cipperly (PhD student, Department of History)
*Collaboration with the APEA

We look forward to seeing you via Zoom and hope you will share this with all who might also be interested in joining our community. Please direct questions and inquiries to Yifan Zou (yifanzou@uchicago.edu) and Minori Egashira (egashiram@uchicago.edu)
Hope you are staying safe and healthy!

Yifan + Minori
VMPEA Graduate Student Coordinators 2020-21

Dear friends and colleagues,

Welcome back, everyone!  All sessions unless otherwise noted will take place in the Cochrane-Woods Art Center (CWAC) Room 152 on Fridays, 4:30-6:30 pm.

Winter 2020

January 17 Event Co-sponsored with Mass Culture Workshop

Panpan Yang, PhD candidate, Department of Cinema and Media Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

“Ink on Screen, or What Animation Calls Thinking”

Respondent: W. J. T. Mitchell, PhD, Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor, English and Art History

January 26 Cultural Event

Time: TBD; Venue: Professor Wei-Cheng Lin’s Place

Spring Festival Dumpling Party

“‘That artwork doesn’t exist’: Productive misreadings of performance documentation and what happens when you find out the ‘truth.’”

February 28

Delin Lai, PhD, Professor and Head of Art History Program, Department of Fine Art, the University of Louisville

“Regionality: A Resistant Issue and Keyword in Modern Chinese Architecture”

Respondent: Zhiyan Yang, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History

March 6

Luo Rufei, PhD candidate, Zhejiang University; exchange student, University of Chicago
“A Preliminary Research on Images of Thousand Buddhas in Tibet: Taking the Murals of Pegdongpo Cave in Zanda County in Ngari Prefecture of Western Tibet as an Example”
Respondent: Dongshan Zhang, PhD candidate, Department of Art History.

March 7 Special Event

Time: 12:00-1:30pm

Location: CWAC lounge

A conversation and lunch with Christina Yu, PhD, Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

RSVP is required.

We look forward to your attendance and hope you will share this with all who might also be interested in joining our community. Please direct questions and inquiries to Zhenru Zhou (zhenru@zhenruzhou.com) and Yin Wu (yinwu@uchicago.edu).

Kenro Izu, KAILASH #75, 2000. Platinum palladium print, 13 x 19 in. Rubin Museum of Art.