Selected papers from Day two of 'Out of Scale: From “Miniature” Material Cultures to the Anthropic Principle' Organised by Wenjie Su, PhD researcher, Princeton University/CASVA; Yizhou Wang, Research Assistant Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University; and Stephen Whiteman, Reader in the Art and Architecture of China, The Courtauld, this symposium is held in collaboration with the Academy of Visual Arts, School of Creative Arts, at Hong Kong Baptist University, with additional support from the Kingfisher Foundation, the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, and the Courtauld Trans-Asias Research Cluster.
Scale—the relative dimension, magnitude, or scope of objects, and their proportional relationship to the observer—is often perceived through visual and cultural assumptions. As terrestrial beings, we interpret the scale of landscapes, built environments, material artifacts, social structures, and historical events through the lens of our bodies and shared paradigms. Across time, philosophical and religious traditions have long pondered humanity’s place and purpose in relation to both natural and supernatural realms. Yet technological advancements—from maritime navigation to space exploration, from telescopic and microscopic investigations to the detection of cosmic microwave background radiation, and from embodied physical spaces to seemingly boundless digital spheres—have continually pushed us to reconceive the scale of our existence.
This conference brings together studies that examine the art historical, historiographical, and ideological significance of micro-scale and small-format designs, sites, and events. It pursues three key aims: first, to deepen inquiry into the sensorial, spiritual, intellectual, and technical implications of scaling; second, to explore how scale—of originals, reproductions, interfaces, or interpretive paradigms—has shaped the centrality or marginality of specific topics within art historical discourse; and third, to bridge investigations of human creativity with meditations on human existence through the conceptual lens of scale.
Across the global history of visual and material cultures, creatively re-scaled objects have played a central role in conceiving and simulating worlds that surpass our optical and epistemological thresholds, evoking resonances that are profoundly out of scale. By exploring how humans have persistently shifted scales to orient themselves within and across realms, this conference reflects on our inherently limited yet endlessly imaginative perspective—and envisions new pathways for launching beyond boundaries.
Programme:
Welcome and introduction to the day
Panel IV – Tiny Gateways to Sacred Realms
(Chaired by Sujatha Meegama, The Courtauld)
Yi Zhao, Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
‘A Path to Paradise: Reevaluating Pure Land Belief in the Northern Dynasties with the Nine-Buddha Halo Miniature Shrines’.
Elena Calvillo, University of Richmond,
‘Scale as a Devotional Catalyst: Giulio Clovio and the Challenges of Judgment’.
Panel V – When the Overlooked Loomed Large (
Chaired by Sussan Babaie, The Courtauld)
Yizhou Wang, Hong Kong Baptist University,
‘Intimate Enchantment: Scale and Affect of Fans in Ming-Qing Literature and Visual Culture’.
Panel VI – Small Black Mirrors
(Chaired by Yizhou Wang, Hong Kong Baptist University.)
Matthew Westerby, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, ‘Music in Miniature: Musical Notation and Digitized Choir Books’.
Barbara Mennel, University of Florida,
‘Miniature’s Large Installations: Pandemic Curation in the Shelter in Place Gallery’.
Panel VII – Our Landing Spots
(Chaired by Stephen Whiteman, The Courtauld)
Gonzalo Munoz-Vera and Shaun Rosier, Virginia Tech,
‘Miniature to Monumental: The Resulting Overlapping Scales of Coal Extraction and Human Inhabitation in Amonate’.
Bhawana Jain, Central Saint Martins,
‘Ecopoiesis and the Politics of Scale: Land Art, Climate Action, and Embodied Memory in Ladakh’.
Информация по комментариям в разработке