Creation myths and the visual arts
Leiden, 15-16 December 2005
International Conference
Organized by CNWS, IIAS, National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden University
Venue:
National Museum of Ethnology
Steenstraat 1, Leiden
15 December
13.30-14.00 Arrival. Coffee
14.00-14.30 Mineke Schipper, Creation Myths and the Visual Arts
14.30-15.15 Ye Shuxian, Mythical Body: World Parent Type Creation Myth in China and its Visual Archetypes
15.15-15.30 Tea-break
15.30-16.00 Teodor Lekov, Egyptian Myth in Word and Image
16.00-16.30 Frans Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Myth in Word and Image
16.30 Reception
16 December
9.00-9.30 Arrival. Coffee
9.30-10.15 Emma Stafford, Visualising Creation in Ancient Greece
10.15-10.45 Stavros Stavrou Karayanni, Sacred Dance in Embodied Ritual: Fertility, Mother Earth, and Cultures of Oriental Dance (Greece and Turkey)
10.45-11.00 Coffee-break
11.00-11.30 Reindert Falkenburg, Hieronymus Bosch: the True Colours of De Tuin der Lusten (Hebrew/Christian mythologies)
11.30-12.00 Robert Segal, Terminator: The Hollywood (American) Version of the Beginning and End of the World (Hebrew/Christian mythologies)
12.00-13.00 Lunch
13.00-13.30 Eric Venbrux, Social Life and the Dreamtime: Clues to Creation Myths as Rhetorical Devices in Tiwi Ritual (Australia, New Guinea)
13.30-14.00 Jarich Oosten, Verbal and Visual Inuit Myths (Antarctic Area)
14.00-14.30 Laura van Broekhoven, From the Canoe to the Airplane: Art and Oral Tradition in Tabasco. (Middle America)
14.30-15.00 Tea-break
15.00-15.30 Honorine Mare, Bisa Material Culture and Myths (Burkina Faso, West Africa)
15.30-16.00 Daniela Merolla, Filming African Creation Myths
16.00-16.30 Discussion
Drinks
Information and Regstration: Thera Giezen (theragiezen@planet.nl)
Those interested in attending should register by email.
More information at www.creationmyths.leidenuniv.nl
Creation myths, as verbal stories of the beginning of the world and humanity, and their representation in the arts, have usually been studied separately, in spite of their many connections. In most cultures, the origin stories include oral and written traditions; the arts include ‘traditional’ masks, statues, wall painting and relief, as well as ‘modern’ objects from paintings to sculptures, and performances.
Creation stories present images and the visual arts present narratives, and both media do this in their own ways. Authors told and continue to tell those stories in oral and written traditions, be it always in other ways and for other purposes than their predecessors did in the past. Whenever artists present or refer to myths as oral stories or written texts from long ago, they do so in various ways, depending on the historical and cultural context. Creation myths, then, have been visualised in and/or have relationships with old art objects, such as masks, statues, and all kinds of other objects. In the meantime they relate to contemporary high and popular culture in many ways.
The conference Creation Myths and the Visual Arts will feature papers on the visual representation of creation myths from all over the world. Interdisciplinary dialogues in the scholarly fields of origin myth and the visual arts may include all cultures, several disciplines and many aspects. Room will also be offered to the exploration of the uncharted and sometimes controversial area of visual and verbal relationships.
The central question for the Conference will be to explore how creation myths originating from around the world interact in narratives and in the visual arts, and how their interrelatedness can be studied in a more systematic way. Theoretical considerations will therefore be crucial in the proposed conference dialogues.
Creation myths, as verbal stories of the beginning of the world and humanity, and their representation in the arts, have usually been studied separately, in spite of their many connections. In most cultures, the origin stories include oral and written traditions; the arts include ‘traditional’ masks, statues, wall painting and relief, as well as ‘modern’ objects from paintings to sculptures, and performances.
Creation stories present images and the visual arts present narratives, and both media do this in their own ways. Authors told and continue to tell those stories in oral and written traditions, be it always in other ways and for other purposes than their predecessors did in the past. Whenever artists present or refer to myths as oral stories or written texts from long ago, they do so in various ways, depending on the historical and cultural context. Creation myths, then, have been visualised in and/or have relationships with old art objects, such as masks, statues, and all kinds of other objects. In the meantime they relate to contemporary high and popular culture in many ways.
The conference Creation Myths and the Visual Arts will feature papers on the visual representation of creation myths from all over the world. Interdisciplinary dialogues in the scholarly fields of origin myth and the visual arts may include all cultures, several disciplines and many aspects. Room will also be offered to the exploration of the uncharted and sometimes controversial area of visual and verbal relationships.
The central question for the Conference will be to explore how creation myths originating from around the world interact in narratives and in the visual arts, and how their interrelatedness can be studied in a more systematic way. Theoretical considerations will therefore be crucial in the proposed conference dialogues.
Mineke Schipper