ImaginesSeduction and Power Conference Poster

IMAGINES is an interdisciplinary project and research group exploring the influence and impact of antiquity on modern cultures. The project addresses specifically the reception of antiquity in film, theatre, dance, opera, sculpture, architecture, painting, graphic novels, design and photography and other forms of visual culture. IMAGINES goes beyond the treatment of reception in individual genres and periods, taking specific genres as starting points and going on to highlight their interconnections.

The project has been established as an international network coordinated by members of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, University of Bristol, University of La Rioja and Barcelona, University of Mainz and the Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM) of Milan. Dr Marta García Morcillo (TSD) is coordinator and one of the founding members of IMAGINES.

The network’s main aim is the organization of a series of conferences devoted to universal themes that intend to offer a basis not only for interdisciplinary debates on the impact of antiquity in the arts, but also for open discussion on the diversity of reception(s) in different cultural traditions.

While the first conference (La Rioja in 2007, published in 2008, see also free version on-line), gave an overview of the wide range and specific forms of ongoing projects, the second meeting (Bristol, September 22-25, 2010) focussed instead on a particular topic: Seduction and Power. The conference explored the tensions and relations of gender, sexuality, and power in reception, associated with concepts such as domination, magnetism and attraction. Such themes dominated the plots and characters of myth and drama, but also served to portray historical personages.

A third conference in Mainz (Germany) on the topic Magic and Supernatural in planned for September 2012.

Age of Bronze Exhibition Poster. Seduction and Power Conference Imagines project has recently signed an agreement with Continuum International Publishing Group to publish our forthcoming book: Seduction and Power. Antiquity in the Visual and Performing Arts. We expect to consolidate the relationship and strengthen the collaboration with this leading academic publisher for our future volumes.

For further information visit the IMAGINES website  or follow us on facebook under IMAGINES PROJECT.

Contact

Dr Marta García Morcillo
(University of Wales Trinity Saint David)