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DTSTAMP:20260720T014000Z
DESCRIPTION:Ruggero Longo will be giving a Brown Bag Lunch presentation on 
 Thursday\, December 4\, 2014\, from 12 to 1:30pm\, at the Bard Graduate Ce
 nter in New York City.  His talk is entitled “Interchanges\, Workshop Dyna
 mics and Material Matters: The Case of Norman Palermo.”Ruggero Longo is Re
 search Assistant in the Dipartimento di Scienze dei Beni Culturali at the 
 Università della Tuscia\, Viterbo. His PhD is in Art History\, and he spec
 ializes in archaeometric and diagnostic systems for cultural heritage. His
  research concerns the opus sectile decorations of Norman Southern Italy a
 nd intercultural relationships and exchanges in the medieval Mediterranean
 . He initiated a project concerning the Romanesque church of San Menna in 
 Campania in 2009 and organized a conference on this topic in June 2010. Si
 nce 2009\, he has worked on the nomination of “Palermo arabo-normanna and 
 the cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale” as a UNESCO World Heritage site. In
  2012\, he was awarded the Aga-Khan Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard Uni
 versity\, where he did research concerning the opus sectile decoration of 
 Mamluk Cairo and its relationship with Norman Sicily. He is currently work
 ing on a project based on cognitive stury\, archaeological researches\, an
 d the promotion of the Norman Palace in Palermo. He will be a Research Fel
 low at the Bard Graduate Center from December 2014 to January 2015.  While
  in residence at the BGC\, he will conduct research on workshop dynamics i
 n the Middle Ages.According to the sources\, mosaic art and the opus secti
 le technique flourished in medieval southern Italy thanks to the contribut
 ion of Byzantine artisans from Constantinople. At the same time\, marble d
 ecorations in Norman Sicily were affected by ornamental elements of Islami
 c tradition. Hence\, the artworks stand in a precarious balance between th
 e Byzantine model—or topos—and its Islamic transcendence\, that is\, the u
 nicum. In this scenario the question is: how were these connections genera
 ted? How did interchanges work? The answer lies within the monuments thems
 elves\, its matter stands in their contexts and materials\, that means not
  only inside the work of art\, but also outside and all around it. Before 
 asking what single identity was involved in the syncretic dynamics generat
 ed in the medieval Mediterranean\, it is necessary to understand how the c
 raftsmen were able to stimulate each other\, in which way and through whic
 h media. The knowledge of the models and the cultural patterns informing t
 he phenomenon is important so far as the investigation of the artworks’ co
 ntext\, and the analysis of both the monument as a whole and its details. 
 This is what can be defined as syncretic perception: a holistic approach t
 oward the artifact and its visual expression\, including forms\, ornamenta
 l patterns\, materials and structure\, beyond their assigned meanings. The
  final assumption is that the investigation on the workshop dynamics and t
 he materials involved are special tools\, able to reveal better than other
 s the reliable path of interactions and interchanges among craftsmen.Coffe
 e and tea will be served\; attendees are welcome to bring their own lunch.
 RSVP is required.
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20141204T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20141204T133000
SUMMARY:Bard Graduate Center: Interchanges\, Workshop Dynamics and Material
  Matters:
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