The Sweet Perspectives

Convened by Nathaniel Jones, Department of Art History and Archaeology, School of Arts & Sciences and Jonathan Stitelman, Departments of Architecture and Urban Design, Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts

Perspective and other forms of descriptive geometry are uniquely interdisciplinary topics, the study and execution of which involve art history, architecture, and design as well as  anatomy, mathematics, and physics. These topics are subject to historical and theoretical investigation, but are also matters of contemporary practice and production. Yet all too often the many facets of perspective are only ever tackled in isolation, by specialists in specific sub-fields speaking to small groups of other specialists.

This symposium proposes to bring together scholars and practitioners from a broad range of disciplines in a unique format, which will combine lectures, seminar-style discussions, and a hands-on practicum to help us approach the geometry of representation with the full breadth it merits. The practicum, led by the conveners of the symposium, will take participants through several possible hypothetical reconstruction methods for the construction of ancient Greco-Roman murals, culminating in the attempt to create a set of large-scale representations. The symposium will culminate in a plenary discussion of what we have learned, including successes and failures. 

It is our hope that an event like this, which combines the historical, theoretical, and practical elements of descriptive geometry, would offer everyone the opportunity to re-think a seemingly familiar topic from a variety of new lenses. In this sense, the event will cultivate a sense of communal, creative exploration and generate new ways to approach our own practices or objects of study. 

Thanks to sponsors Center for the Humanities and the Weil-Hall Fund, Department of Art History and Archaeology.

Schedule

Thursday, September 19, 2024, Kuehner Family Court, Weil Hall

6–8 pm: “What Was Ancient Optics?” lecture by Reviel Netz, Department of Classics, Stanford University

Friday September 20, 2024, Kuehner Family Court, Weil Hall

9–10:30 am: “Cross-cultural Perception and Linear Perspective in Eighteenth-Century China,” lecture by Kristina Kleutghen, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis

10:30 am–12 pm: “Drawing between Memory and Perception,” lecture by Jerome Tryon, Designer and Critic, Yale School of Architecture

Lunch break

1–2:30 pm: “Anamorphosis: Critique, Gimmick, Détournement, Magic,” lecture by Jennifer Nelson, Department of Art History, University of Delaware

2:30–4:00 pm: “Parametric Image Analysis in Contemporary Architecture Practice,” discussion by Allison Méndez, CannonDesign and Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art; and Andy VanMater, CannonDesign

4–5:30 pm: “Making a Painting the Ancient Way,” discussion and preparation for practicum, Jonathan Stitelman and Nathaniel Jones

Saturday, September 21, 2024, Steinberg Gallery
9–12 pm: Practicum: Room of the Masks Reborn. Testing 3 Projection Systems on a custom-built wall. All welcome to participate.

12:30–1:30 pm: Critique and concluding discussion