The 45th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, from Thursday evening, October 17th through Sunday, afternoon, October 20, 2019.
You can find more information on the Byzantine Studies Association of North America, Inc. on the website.
Registration
Registration for the conference will include coffee breaks, admission to all sessions, and three evening receptions.
Early Bird Registration: $155 (Available through September 17, 2019)
Regular Registration: $175
Meeting Agenda
*Schedule subject to change based on Programming Committee
| Wednesday | October 16th | |
| 6:00 pm | 6:00 PM Mike Clover Memorial Lecture “The Contagion of the Gaze: A Persistent motif in Medieval Art and Modern Theory” Professor Anthony Cutler, Penn State | Department of Art History, Elvehjem Building |
| Thursday | October 17th | Chazen Museum of Art |
| 3:00 pm | Workshop on Russian Icons in the Chazen Museum of Art | Object Study Room |
| 4:30 pm | Conference Registration Begins | Chazen Museuem of Art Lobby |
| 5:30 pm | Public Lecture, The Chazen Museum of Art "Re-Claiming The Original 'Degenerate Art': Disability, Alterity and Byzantine Studies." Professor Elena Boeck, DePaul University, Department of the History of Art and Architecture | Chazen Museum of Art |
| 6:30 pm | Conference Opening Reception | Chazen Museum of Art |
| Friday | October 18th | Memorial Union |
| 7:30am | Registration | Outside of Tripp Commons |
| 8:10am | Panel 1A - Old Madison | Panel 1B - Beefeaters |
| Gendered Subjectivities Chair: Adam Goldwyn Paper 1: Roland Betancourt. Queer/ing Desire in the Lives of Transgender Monks Paper 2: Derek Krueger. The Homophobia of George the Monk Paper 3: Erin Walsh. (Un)Holy Desire: The Foreign Woman in Romanos Melodos | Considerations about Death & Burial Practices Chair: Jeffrey Beneker Paper 1: Maria Doerfler. Valens’s heir, Basil’s legacy:Contextualizing an early Byzantine Syriac funerary-sermon (BL Add MS 18,813) Paper 2: Jonathan Zecher. Byzantine Anthologies and the Ordering of Death and Judgement Paper 3: Fotini Kondyli. Dealing with “Special Dead”: Death, Disease and Afterlife in Late Antique Thebes | |
| 9:45am | Coffee Break | Inn Wisconsin |
| 10:00am | Panel 2A - Old Madison | Panel 2B - Beefeaters |
| Narrating Women: Life, Death and the Rhetoric of Female Self-Fashioning Chair: Roland Betancourt Paper 1: Adam Goldwyn. Women’s Voices at the Intersection of Romance and History, or That Time Niketas Choniates Saved a Woman from the Latins During the Sack of Constantinople Paper 2: Ana C. Núñez. Harmonizing opposites: Anna Komnene's use of rhetorical apologetic in the Alexiad Paper 3: Megan Moore. Elite Mediterranean Emotional Communities and the Romance of Erotic Grief | Race, Identity and Inter-Marriage Chair: Tia Kolbaba Paper 1: Thomas Dale. Representing Race in Medieval Venice Paper 2: Christopher Livanos. Mixed-Race Identityin the Epics of Digenes Akrites and AntaraIbn Shaddad Paper 3: Sophia Moesch. The Divorce of Lothar IIand the Uncanonical Fourth Marriage of Leo VI: Secular and Religious Power under Carolingian and Macedonian Rule | |
| 11:35am | Lunch Break | On Own |
| 11:35am | Jaharis Graduate Student Development Workshop & Luncheon* | Council Room |
| 1:00pm | Panel 3 | Tripp Commons | |
| BSANA Sponsored Roundtable “Byzantine Studies in North America: The Role of the Research Institutes and Foundations.” Organizer: Ben Anderson Discussants: George Demacopoulos, Sharon Gerstel, Dimitri Gondicas, Young Kim, Dimitris Krallis, Brandie Ratliff, Anna Stavrakopoulou | |||
| 2:30pm | Afternoon Break | Inn Wisconsin | |
| 2:45pm | Panel 4A - Old Madison | Panel 4B - Beefeaters | Panel 4C - Profile |
| Imperial Rhetoric Chair: Lynn Jones Paper 1: Sviatoslav Dmitriev. Early Byzantine Ideologies and Identities in Two Panegyrics for Anastasius I Paper 2: Milena Repajić. Rhetoric and Republic: Konstantinos Doukas' Accession Speech Paper 3: Jeffrey Beneker. A Plutarchan Reading of Leo the Deacon Paper 4: Iskandar Bcheiry. Identifying a ninth-century Syriac recension of the Notitia Antiochena in the Oriental Institute Museum-Chicago | Transmission: The Byzantine Empire and its Global Connections Chair: Betsy Williams Paper 1: Mikael Muehlbauer. Inventing Late Antiquity in Medieval Ethiopia Paper 2: Robert Olsen. Tang China between Byzantium and the Caliphate: Contacts between China, Byzantium, and the Caliphate in the 7th and 8th Centuries A.D. Paper 3: Jennifer Ball. The Materiality of Byzantine Silk in the West Paper 4: Cecily Hennessy. Constantinople and Winchester, Manuel II and Henry the Lion, the Lithos and the Lamentation | Text and Image Chair: Brad Hostetler Paper 1: Sean Leatherbury. The Lives of Artists in Late Antique Syria: Epigraphic Evidence from Houses, Churches, and Synagogues Paper 2: Ariel Fein. Monumental Messages of Salvation: The Arabic Inscription in the Martorana Dome Paper 3: Elisa Galardi. The David Casket: A Gift for the Byzantine Empress Paper 4: Courtney Tomaselli. The Audacity of Word and Image: Becoming Christ in the Psalter Vat. Gr. 1927 |
| 4:50pm | Afternoon Break | Inn Wisconsin | |
| 5:10pm | Panel 5A - Old Madison | Panel 5B - Beefeaters | |
| A Discussion of Robert Ousterhout's (Eastern Medieval Architecture (OUP, 2019) Chair: Young Richard Kim Roundtable Participants: Benjamin Anderson Christina Maranci Vasileios Marinis Ida Sinkevic Respondent: Robert Ousterhout | Monks and Monastic Life Chair: Hannah Ewing Paper 1: Thomas Schweigert. A pictorial, noncanonical gospel harmony at Saint Sergiusin Gaza? Visualizing Choricius of Gaza’s Laudatio Marciani Paper 2: Alexander Titus. Ἔξω Παιδεία: Gregory Palamas’ Triads As A Monastic Reading of Byzantine Humanism Paper 3: Felix Szabo. Inside the Library of an Eleventh-Century Eunuch Monastery Paper 4: Nikolas Hoel. To be Written Upon: The Odd Case of the Disfigurement of Theodore and Theophanes Graptoi | ||
| 7:15pm | Friday Evening Reception | Tripp Commons | |
| Saturday | October 19th | Memorial Union |
| 7:30am | Registration | Outside of Tripp Commons |
| 8:00am | Panel 6A - Old Madison | Panel 6B - Beefeaters |
| Art and Building in the Final Byzantine Centuries and the Modern Period Chair: Elena Boeck Paper 1: Rossitza Schroeder. Late Byzantine Monochrome Images Paper 2: Olga Yunak. The Unfinished Style of Frescos as Theology of Participation: the Case of the Transfiguration Church on Illina Street in Novgorod, Russia (1378) Paper 3: Mateusz Ferens. The Post-Byzantine Condition Anachronically Imagined Paper 4: Fani Gargova. A Theory of Byzantine Architecture by Louis Van Overstraeten (1818-1849) | Texts and their Audience Chair: Byron McDougall Paper 1: Ugo Carlo Luigi Mondini. Attuning Rough Voices to the Hymns of God. John Mauropous, His People, His Audience Paper 2: James Skedros. Memory and the Synaxarion of Constantinople Paper 3: Tiffany Van Winkoop. Master of Ceremonies? Ritual, Dialogue, and Political Agency in 1042 Paper 4: Luca Farina. Abū Maʿšar in Byzantium. First Remarks on the Greek Version of al-Muḏākarāt fī asrār al-nuǧūm | |
| 10:35am | Coffee Break | Inn Wisconsin |
| 10:50am | Panel 7A - Old Madison | Panel 7B - Beefeaters |
| Political Negotiations. Shifting Borders Chair: Christian Raffensperger Paper 1: Marco Cristini. Wandering Popes: Papal Travels to Constantinople in the Sixth Century Paper 2: Alex Magnolia. Byzantines and Brides: Negotiating Romanness and Kinship across Frontiers Paper 3: Jonas Tai. Constantinopolitan Responses to the Byzantine Refugee Crisis of 1302 -1307 Paper 4: Joe Glynias. The Black Mountain outside Antioch and Byzantine monasticism in the 11th century | Vision, Salvation, and the Christian Identities Chair: Betsy Bolman Paper 1: Ravinder Binning. Katanyxis and the Making of Byzantine Art. Paper 2: Katherine Taronas. Animal Encounters in Early Christian Art: Visualizing Salvation through Juxtaposition. Paper 3: Elizabeth Zanghi. The Invisible Icon At El Nazar Kilise, a Tenth Century Church in Cappadocia Paper 4: Karin Krause. Surpassing the Acheiropoieta of Old: Meanings and Associations of Byzantium’s Holy Tiles | |
| 12:55pm | BSANA Business Lunch All conference attendees are warmly encouraged to register for and attend the BSANA Business Lunch | Tripp Commons |
| 2:15pm | Panel 8A - Old Madison | Panel 8B - Beefeaters |
| Materiality and Meaning Chair: Jennifer Pruitt Paper 1: Evan Freeman. Intermaterial icons: ritual transformation of a Byzantine censer in the Metropolitan Museum Paper 2: Ozlem Eren. Icon Revetments as Iconostases in a Dynamic Sacred Space Paper 3: Jacqueline Mann. Turning Saints to Souvenirs: Reliquaries as Transformers in Early Byzantium Paper 4: Diliana Angelova. Carving and Story-Telling on Byzantine Caskets | The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture Sponsored Panel. The Byzantine Animal Studies: Texts, Contexts, Methodologies Chair: Ana C. Núñez Paper 1: Stavros Lazaris. Animals in Byzantium, to comfort humans and their souls (exploited animals; animals for leisure; animals as symbols; animals as objects to be studied) Paper 2: Tristan Schmidt. The 'Leo-Pardos' and the enemy of double-descent-- Manuel I's hunts as political metaphors Paper 3: Florin Leonte. Communication and Public Justice: How Animals Talk in Late Byzantium Paper 4: Przemyslaw Marciniak. (Micro)history of Byzantine Insects (11th-12th centuries) | |
| 4:20pm | Afternoon Break | Inn Wisconsin |
| 4:35pm | Panel 9A - Old Madison | Panel 9B - Beefeaters | Panel 9C - Profile |
| Themes and Borrowings in Theology and Philosophy Chair: Christopher Livanos Paper 1: Matthew Neumann. Gregory Palamas and Augustine of Hippo's De Trinitate Paper 2: Aleksandar Jovanovic. Flirting with the Romans: Byzantine Popular Culture in the Romaic Ghazals of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi and Sultan Walad Paper 3: Alexandre Roberts. Greek and Arabic Grammar and Philosophy in Byzantine Antioch: Abdallah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki's Notes on John of Thessaloniki’s Encomium to St.Demetrios | Architecture: Theories, Cities, Theologies Chair: Galina Tirnanic Paper 1: Justin Willson. On the Diagrammatic Aesthetic of Byzantine Art Paper 2: Gözde Demir. The Zenonopolis Church and Its Place in Early Byzantine Architecture Paper 3: Pelin Yoncacı Arslan. Modelling the Possible: The Architecture of the Byzantine Urban Procession Paper 4: Erik Yingling. Reframing the Metamorphosis of Christ: Ecologies of Transformation at St.Catherine’s Monastery | Crafting Identities: Resilience, Myth, and Religion Chair: Young Kim Paper 1: Tia Kolbaba. The Paulicians and the Myth of the "Medieval Manichee”Tia Kolbaba - The Paulicians and the Myth of the "Medieval Manichee" Paper 2: Adam Schor. Exploring religion when there is no “religion”: Implications for and insights from Byzantine studies. Paper 3: Cahit Mete Oguz. Identity and Social Resilience in the Twelfth-Century Byzantine Peasantry Paper 4: Jovana Anđelković. Voices of Dissidence in Mid-Byzantine Letter Collections |
| 6:40pm | Governing Board Meeting | Capitol View Room |
| 6:40pm | Evening Reception | Tripp Commons |
| Sunday | October 20th | Memorial Union |
| 8:00am | Jaharis Graduate Student Development Workshop and Breakfast* | Inn Wisconsin |
Memorial Union
The conference will be held at the Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. As one of the most beloved and historic destinations on campus, Memorial Union is the place to come socialize, relax, study, eat, and enjoy all the beautiful sunsets and lake views that Madison has to offer. Since opening it's doors in 1928, it has offered a variety of social and educational activities for UW students, faculty, Wisconsin Union Members, and the Madison community. Among its many treasures, the building houses a 1,200 seat theater, Strada Italian Cuisine, Carte Soups & Salads, the Daily Scoop Ice Cream, Badger Market, Peet's Coffee, Der Rathskeller German-Style Tavern, Wheelhouse Studios, Wisconsin Hoofers, various art exhibits, and plentiful study space. Situated on the shores of Lake Mendota, the classic architecture of the building boasts a picturesque lakeside view as well a terrace with 600 colorful sunburst chairs.
Traveling to Madison
By Plane
Madison: Dane County Regional Airport is located 4 miles northeast of downtown Madison. Most major airlines fly into Madison. You can continue to the meeting site via taxi, Uber or Lyft and fares generally run between $12 - $20. Please visit www.msnairport.com for more information.
Milwaukee: General Mitchell International Airport (www.mitchellairport.com) is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, approximately 75 miles east of Madison, You may continue to Madison via car or bus. Please see below for more information on car and bus travel.
Chicago: Chicago, Illinois is located 150 miles southeast of Madison and has two international airports: Midway and O'Hare International Airport. Both airports can be found by visiting www.ohare.com- passengers can continue to Madison via car or bus; please see below for additional information on both options.
By Bus
Milwaukee: The Badger Bus Coach line runs 6 trips daily from Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport directly to the meeting site for around $23 one way. Travel time is approximately 2 hours. Please call (608) 276-7490 for more information or visit www.badgerbus.com.
Chicago: The Van Galder Bus Company runs several times daily from both O'Hare and Midway Airports, directly to the Madison Meeting Site. The one way fare is currently $30 - $32 and travel time is approximately 3.5 hours. Please call (800) 747-0994 for more information or visit www.vangalderbus.com
Lodging
Discounted blocks have been reserved at the below lodging locations with various cut off dates. Please see below for specific cut off dates. All rooms are subject to availability and regular rates.
Please use the direct links and/or access codes to receive the conference rate. Booking accommodations does not register you for the conference
Doubletree Hotel
Room Rates
$179/night
$199/night with Breakfast Included
The Graduate
Room Rate: $149 for Thursday night, $199/night Friday & Saturday
To make a reservation call the hotel at (608) 257-4391 or (800) 589-6285. You can also book directly with this link.
The Graduate Madison is located in the heart of downtown Madison on the University of Wisconsin campus, steps from State Street dining and shopping. As a guest of the Graduate, you are invited to enjoy all of the following services and amenities: Portage Pi, coffee & juice bar with hand pies and healthy eats. Camp Trippalindee, rooftop bar with sweeping views of the Capitol and Lake Mendota, 24 hour fitness center, and complimentary shuttle service.
Valet parking is $25/night.
Hampton Inn & Suites
(608) 255-0360 and mention the Byzantine Studies Conference group block, or you may use this link. All reservations must be made by September 17th, 2019 to receive the discounted rate.
Located in the heart of downtown Madison and adjacent to the University of Wisconsin, the friendly Hampton Inn & Suites Madison/Downtown is within walking distance of shops, galleries, restaurants, and nightspots. Stay here and enjoy easy access to museums, cultural destinations and other Madison, Wisconsin attractions. Stroll around the university's attractive campus, shop, or enjoy lunch downtown, catch a sporting event at the Kohl Center or spend time relaxing on Lake Monona or Lake Mendota.
Every inviting guest room and suite at this hotel in Madison, WI offers beautiful views of downtown Madison. Expect a range of modern amenities including a refrigerator, microwave and a clean and fresh Hampton bed. Watch movies on the 42-inch LCD TV and stay connected at the ergonomic desk with free WiFi.
Each morning, start your day with Hampton's free hot breakfast, offering hot and cold favorites including fresh-baked waffles and hearty oatmeal with toppings. If you're in a rush, grab a free Hampton On the Run Breakfast Bag, available Monday-Friday.
ContacT Us
Wisconsin Union Conference Management
Email: conferences@union.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 265-6534
Wisconsin Union
Conference Management
800 Langdon St.Madison, WI 53706