Summer institute eyes visual culture

A n international group of art historians, museum curators, and cultural critics have gathered at the University for the second year of a program that explores new developments in art history and visual culture.

A departure from traditional academic seminars, the Summer Institute in Art History and Visual Studies was conceived as a way to attract scholars who were once isolated by political or financial hardships in their home countries. With the support of the Getty Grant Program, 30 participants -- two-thirds from Central and Eastern Europe -- were selected.

At the institute's opening on Monday, June 28, participants revealed a range of backgrounds and interests that brought them to the study of visual culture. Eva Kocziszky of Eotvos University in Budapest, Hungary, is a professor of German literature and philosophy, and is on her first visit to an English-speaking country. In contrast, Jesus Carrillo of Madrid, Spain, earned his doctorate as a cultural historian at Cambridge University, but is increasingly involved with contemporary art and art festivals.

Michael Ann Holly, chair of the College's Department of Art and Art History, is directing the summer institute with Keith Moxey of the Department of Art History at Barnard College and Columbia University. Daily seminars, evening lectures by 12 distinguished authorities in the field, and film and video screenings compose the structured program. The institute continues through Friday, July 30, and its free evening lectures are open to the public.

The $353,000 Getty grant covers the cost of the seminar as well as travel stipends for research in the United States by participants from Central and Eastern Europe. Trips to western New York sites with historic and artistic significance will be incorporated into the program along with three days in New York City for visits to art museums, artists' studios, and conservation laboratories.

Current participants have arrived from 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and eight other countries, including Australia, South Africa, and Sweden.

One of the reasons Getty officials were drawn to the University was its Visual and Cultural Studies Program, the first interdisciplinary graduate program of its kind. At Rochester, the program stresses the interpretation of art works within a historical and ideological framework.

The Getty Grant Program, a part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, supports work of exceptional merit for which resources are otherwise limited. Its projects promote research in the history of art and related fields, advancement of the understanding of art, and conservation of cultural heritage by individuals and institutions throughout the world.