CFP: Collecting, Curating, and Consuming American Popular Graphic Arts Yesterday and Today
A symposium in conjunction with Imperfect History: Collecting the Graphic Arts Collection at Benjamin Franklin’s Public Library in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Graphic Arts Department at the Library Company of Philadelphia
Library Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., March 25, 2022
Collecting, Curating, and Consuming American Popular Arts Yesterday and Today continues the conversation started through Imperfect History: Curating the Graphic Arts Collection at Benjamin Franklin’s Public Library. The exhibition explores the development of the Library Company’s graphics art collection as it relates to historical and cultural biases within American history through a candid exploration of the evolution of American graphic arts curatorship and collections in one of the oldest cultural institutions in the country. The symposium seeks to examine changing and innovative directions in how historical popular graphic art (i.e., art not traditionally classified as fine art, that is representative of popular culture, and/or is mass produced and consumed) is curated, interpreted, and used and understood by those who produced, viewed, and consumed it. Collecting, Curating, and Consuming asks how does historical American popular graphic art act as a mirror, bridge, and barrier in facilitating our visual conceptions of our past and present?
Submissions Guidelines:
Proposals for twenty-minute papers should include a no more than 300-word abstract and two-page CV or resume. Joint proposals and illustrated proposals are welcome.
Please email your proposals with the subject line “IH 2022” as word or pdf documents to epiola@librarycompany.org. Submissions should be received by Monday, August 2. Selected participants will be notified via email by early October 2022.
Any questions may be directed to Erika Piola epiola@librarycompany.org.
For the complete call for papers, follow this link.
------------------------------
Erika Piola
Curator of Graphic Arts
Library Company of Philadelphia
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------