[spectre] ANN: First Methodology Seminar for Art History in Ukraine (Lviv/online, Jul-Oct 25)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Mara Freiberg Simmen
Date: Jun 19, 2025
Subject: ANN: First Methodology Seminar for Art History in Ukraine 
(Lviv/online, Jul-Oct 25)

Max Weber Foundation’s Research Centre Ukraine, Lviv/online
Deadline: Jul 7, 2025

The "Methodology Seminars for Art History" in Ukraine is a two-year 
scholarly initiative committed to rethinking methodological approaches 
and future directions of art history within Ukraine. The project is 
realized with the support of the Getty Foundation, as a part of the 
Connecting Art Histories program, by the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max 
Planck Institute for Art History in Rome and the Max Weber Foundation’s 
Research Centre Ukraine.

It arises from a recognition of the structural and institutional 
discontinuities, which continue to shape the academic field in Ukraine 
today. At the same time, the ongoing Russian military aggression and 
broader processes of political transformation have intensified the need 
to preserve cultural heritage, reevaluate dominant narratives, and 
develop new interpretative tools that are responsive to the complexities 
of Ukraine’s historical and contemporary experiences. While more 
traditional methodological frameworks — such as connoisseurship, 
formalism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, and semiotics — remain 
well-integrated within Ukrainian art historical research, the seminars 
delve into more recent approaches, which are less established in 
Ukraine. Rather than imposing a single theoretical model, the seminars 
encourage pluralism, experimentation, and transhistorical inquiry. It 
draws on a wide range of methodological perspectives, including 
horizontal models of art historiography, material histories, and 
posthumanism, while also integrating more interdisciplinary theoretical 
tools of visual culture, anthropology, and decolonial studies.

The seminars are designed as a platform for early-career researchers 
from Ukraine to take part in critical, collaborative, and 
practice-oriented reflection on art historical methodology. It aims to 
cultivate a deeper awareness of how knowledge is produced, transmitted, 
and framed — and to explore how disciplinary practices might be 
reconfigured in light of both local contexts and global shifts in the 
humanities. Participants are invited to situate their research within a 
broader intellectual landscape, share their work in progress, and build 
lasting connections with peers and mentors.

Two seminars (July-October 2025, and spring 2026) will be held in hybrid 
formats, with blocks of deep-reading webinars, and the residency part in 
Lviv, during which the participants will present their research. Senior 
Experts from the international institutions will both engage with the 
participants in peer-to-peer discussions and join the onsite program.

Senior Experts:
- PD Dr Mateusz Kapustka, Institute of Art History, University of Zurich 
- Dr Olenka Pevny, Associate Professor in Ukrainian Studies and in 
Medieval and Early Modern Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge
- Edit András Ph.D., Dr.h.c., independent scholar, senior member of the 
HUN-REN, Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Art History, 
Budapest
- Prof Dr. David Crowley,  National College of Art and Design, Dublin
- Dr phil. Seraina Renz, RE:CENT Center for Medieval Visual Cultures and 
Research Communication, Masaryk University, Brno

Advisory Board:
- Dr Bohdan Shumylovych, Associate Professor,  Department of Cultural 
Studies, Ukrainian Catholic University
- Dr Stefaniia Demchuk, Associate Professor, Taras Shevchenko National 
University of Kyiv
- Oksana Barshynova, Deputy Director of the National Art Museum of Ukraine

By centering Ukrainian voices and fostering international collaboration, 
the seminars seek to contribute to the development of a more 
self-reflexive, inclusive, and interconnected art historical field. It 
is also a response to the urgent need for sustainable academic support — 
not only for individual researchers, but for structural renewal of art 
history as a critical discipline due to Ukraine’s shifting cultural and 
geopolitical environment.

Structure: The first iteration of the Seminars, titled "Methodology and 
Ideology", will bring together 12 Ukrainian early-career scholars 
working in art history or related fields. At the application stage, 
candidates will be asked to submit an abstract of a research topic 
connected with art history/art theory and visual culture they are 
currently pursuing or plan to develop  (e.g., a scholarly article, 
monograph chapter, or dissertation section). There are no geographical 
or chronological limitations on topics; we welcome a wide range of 
proposals.

The initial phase of the first Seminar will take place online from late 
July to September 2025. During this period, participants will work 
together during eight webinars focused on theoretical readings curated 
by the organizing team, while concurrently developing their individual 
research projects. In September, each participant will receive 
personalized feedback on their work during a one-on-one session with an 
invited senior international expert.

Webinar topics for the first seminar can be found here: 
https://www.biblhertz.it/3685469/webinar_topics.pdf Sessions will take 
place weekly in the late afternoon, each lasting two hours. The final 
schedule will be shaped in consultation with the selected participants.

The first Seminar will conclude with a week-long residency in Lviv 
(October 27-31, 2025), where participants will present their research 
topics and take part in lectures, and workshops led by senior experts.

Terms and participation: Each selected participant will receive an 
honorarium of 500 EUR, awarded upon successful completion of the 
Seminar. Travel, accommodation, and per diem expenses for the on-site 
portion of the program will be fully covered. We strongly emphasize that 
participation in all the webinars is mandatory. Each week, an assigned 
moderator from the group will gather a written feedback of one or two 
pages from participants and prepare a concise summary and questions 
about the assigned readings. Webinar topics will take place weekly in 
the late afternoon, each lasting two hours. The final schedule will be 
shaped in consultation with the selected participants. We ask all 
applicants to ensure their full commitment to the program and active 
contribution to the group’s collective work.

Eligibility: Eligible are doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers 
in Art History and related fields from Ukraine or Ukrainian citizens of 
Ukraine residing abroad. The working language of the Seminars is 
English; therefore, a proficient command of the language is required.

Application:
Candidates must submit:
- a CV (PDF)
- a motivation letter (PDF, max. 2 pages)
- a short research proposal (PDF, max. 2 pages)
via the following platform: https://recruitment.biblhertz.it

The applications are accepted until July 7th, 2025 (inclusively). 
Results of the selection process will be communicated by mid-July.

For more information, please see: https://www.biblhertz.it/uaacademy
We warmly welcome any inquiries that could be addressed to the 
grantforurkaine at gmail.com


Reference / Quellennachweis:
ANN: First Methodology Seminar for Art History in Ukraine (Lviv/online, 
Jul-Oct 25). In: ArtHist.net, Jun 19, 2025. 
<https://arthist.net/archive/49537>.