Introduction

The role of images in shaping cultures is widely acknowledged. Less probed is the question of what makes images efficacious in the first place? The conference explores the mechanism and processes through which cultural convictions and conventions animate static images in Chinese history and society. Issues to be discussed include ways of perceptual projection, symbolic investment, rhetorical amplification, generic inflection, properties of medium, visualization and visionary embodiment, technological innovation, sociopolitical manipulation of public images, and ritual use of visual images.

Sponsored by:

The Rockefeller Fund, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

For all conference inquiries, please contact Allison Miller