CfP: Cleveland Symposium (Wear: Indexing the Human Body)

[Rachel Quist]

Hello colleagues,

I'm writing to share the Call for Papers for the Cleveland Symposium, a graduate symposium that takes place annually at the Cleveland Museum of Art. This year's theme is Wear: Indexing the Human Body. 

The symposium is open to all historic and geographic time periods, so I heartily encourage you to apply and/or share this CfP with your network. Symposium and submission details are included below the signature line.

Warmly,

Rachel

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Rachel Quist

キスト レイチェル

Assistant Professor

Department of Art History and Art
Case Western Reserve University

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The Department of Art History and Art at Case Western Reserve University invites current and recent graduate students to submit paper abstracts for the 2026 Annual Symposium, Wear: Indexing the Human Body, by August 14, 2026. Held in partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Art as part of the joint program between CWRU and CMA, the Cleveland Symposium is one of the longest-running annual art history symposia in the United States organized by graduate students.

This year’s symposium invokes the double meaning of the word wear, as clothing, accessories, or adornments on the body and the physical damage an item accumulates over time. The symposium welcomes innovative research papers that explore how art interacts with the human body and the human body interacts with art in any medium, as well as in any historical period and geographic location. Different methodological perspectives, including conservation and scientific insights, are welcome.

Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Fashion, worn items, and adornment
• Arms and armor
• Fingerprints, handprints, marks made by the body on objects
• Evidence of human use and damage
• Bodily traces on objects
• Object traces on bodies
• Bodily reception of art, environmental reception
• Medical art and the aesthetics of healing
• Somatics and sensory engagement
• Embodied artistic practices

Current and recent graduate students in art history and related disciplines are invited to submit an abstract of up to 250 words and a CV to cleveland...@gmail.com by Friday, August 14, 2026. 

Selected participants will be notified by the end of August. Presentations should be between 15–18 minutes in length. The symposium is planned as an in-person event. Speakers will be responsible for their own travel, but lodging with CWRU graduate students will be arranged for interested participants.