Key Pages
Main Group
SEEING THE PAST:
Building knowledge of the past and present through acts of seeing
A conference hosted by the Archaeology Center at Stanford University
February 4 – 6, 2005
Seeing the Past is a conference designed to explore the act of seeing and how observation leads to certain types of knowledge. This conference explores how visual media are used to inform and construct our knowledge of the past. It will engage in a discussion of a wide range of forms, practices and theories of perception and the subsequent formation of knowledge in both the past and the present.
The objective of this conference is to promote productive dialogue and provide a forum for discussion in moderated sessions. Papers will be pre-circulated and posted on a conference website. All participants are encouraged to read papers and participate in an online forum. The presentation of papers will be limited to a 5-10 minute ‘provocative statement’, intended to stimulate discussion.
1) Seeing the Past (in the present)
This category encompasses the ways in which we present the past through visual technologies and media to other scholars, the public and ourselves. Our aim is to explore how different media present different pasts. Possible topics in this area may include (but are not limited to) GIS/Digital rendering of sites and monuments, visual modeling, the commercialization/packaging of archaeology, the past through photography/other media, how modern sites are used (i.e. heritage/ tourism), and museology.
2) Seeing the Past (in the past)
This category includes studies on how past peoples used visual culture to understand their past and present. What can an image, sculpture or monument convey that a text cannot? How did people see? What did people see? Possible topics may include (but are not limited to) temporal and spatial development of settlements and cemeteries, rock art, textual and artistic representations, monumentality, spatial re-use, ritualized architecture, and landscape studies.
The conference theme is designed to enable productive dialogue across a range of disciplines including: Anthropological Sciences; Architecture; Art and Design History; Classics; Cultural and Social Anthropology; Biology; Cultural Studies; Education; Film Studies; Dramatic and Performance Studies; Fine Art; Geography; Geology and Earth Sciences; History; Literary Studies; Museum Studies; Photography; Psychology; Sociology, Visual Culture.
image copyright Sarah Levin-Richardson, jj richardson and Kellie Brownell
Posted at Feb 05/2005 04:24 PM:
chris witmore: this is what it looks like to post comments. type your name in the square brackets and post outside like this.
Posted at Feb 05/2005 08:40 PM:
stacey camp: thanks for doing this, chris - you're awesome!
Posted at Feb 14/2005 02:55 PM:
Sarah Levin-Richardson, I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of the work you have done! -Susan Neadle
Posted at Jun 29/2005 09:32AM:
chris witmore: I have turned the post comments section back on.
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