The AzLab is a monthly seminar at the Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa. It aims to create new analytical perspectives on issues related to azulejos, including its research, inventory, collecting, safeguarding and its creation or dissemination. The special AzLab#14 is a one-day conference with call for papers.

Frames, whether real or painted, stand for order, frontier, or edge, but also for articulation and integration. In the case of applied arts such as the azulejo, painted frames help organise the compositions within space, both through the delimitation of the tiled surfaces and through its articulation with the supporting architecture or with other art forms. Frames are therefore key-elements in the definition of the decorative systems they are part of.

The purpose of this special AzLab#14 is to present and discuss the various kinds of frames used throughout the history of the azulejo manufactured or applied in Portugal, in an attempt to understand how they came to influence the configuration of the rooms or locations they were used in. The debate is thus extended to other art forms (woodwork, painting, sculpture, stucco, brutesco, textiles, and so on), with which the azulejo interacts. Although the analysis will take into account the specificity of ceramic frames, it will nonetheless integrate them within the wider context of visual and architectural decorative devices.

This session will also cover issues related to the cataloguing of frames and to the definition of the controlled vocabulary lists used to describe them, part of the general domain of digital heritage inventories.

The AzLab#14 will be divided into three panels, according to a chronological sequence beginning with the first examples of the use of azulejos, in the late 15th century, and ending in the present day. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

– Azulejo frames
– Decorative systems including azulejos
– Frame inventory and catalogue


ABSTRACT SUBMISSION:
This one-day-conference invites proposals of up to 300 words (in english) for papers of 20 minutes paper, followed by 15 minutes of debate. Proposals should be sent to Dr. Maria do Rosário Salema de Carvalho (ARTIS – Instituto de História da Arte, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa) at rscarvalho@letras.ulisboa.pt until the 15th March 2015. Please also attach a brief biographical note (maximum 1 page). Selection of proposals will take place until 10th April 2015 and participants will be informed thereafter. The accepted articles will be published online on October 2015.


EXPENSES:
Participation and attendance in the conference is free. The organizers will not cover travel and accommodation expenses.


Scientific commission:
Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass – Yale Center for British Art
Vítor Serrão – ARTIS – Instituto de História da Arte, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa
Alexandre Pais - Museu Nacional do Azulejo
Alexandra Gago da Câmara – Universidade Aberta e Centro de História da Arte e Investigação Artística – CHAIA-UÉ
Rosário Salema de Carvalho - ARTIS – Instituto de História da Arte, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa
Clara Moura Soares – ARTIS – Instituto de História da Arte, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa