The Objects of Art History: Material Challenges to Canonical Histories

Rooted in the study of objects, the history of art has long grappled with the resistance of objects to the imposition of taxonomies and hermeneutics. This session, developed by the National Committee for the History of Art (NCHA) in conversation with the upcoming theme of the 36th Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art (CIHA) World Congress, "Matter/Materiality,” invites proposals that explore how grappling with objects—through their physical attributes, assertive presence, or propensity to decay and disintegrate, absence, theft or appropriation—can exert pressure on the canonical histories that have controlled or excluded them and the power structures embedded in these narratives. How might decolonial, feminist, or queer methodologies provide new tools for restoring lost meanings that may inhere within material objects? Conceived in a moment when trends in consumption such as “fast fashion,” social media, and born-digital texts and images encourage disposability and dematerialization, this session invites panelists to consider the future of historical inquiry and the fragility of the objects, records, archives, and the very notions of “history” we are constructing and deconstructing today. Proposals are invited from artists, art historians, archivists, curators, and other visual arts professionals.