Panel
Asian Art in Planetary Perspective
Panel organized by Feng Schöneweiß (4A_Lab, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut) and De-nin Lee (Emerson College) at the European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology (EAAA) fourth biennial conference, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Jinzhu Ji, Dijun Guo, Jianzhong Liu, et al. The 1:2,500,000-Scale Geologic Map of the Global Moon. V1. sadr, 2022. DOI:10.12176/03.99.02797. CC-BY 4.0
The past two decades have witnessed the emergence and establishment of ecocritical art history. Now, there is a strong contingent of art historians tackling issues related to human participation in and impact on the environment. Affirming the ecocritical approach and engaging with recent scholarship in Asian art history, this panel extends our analytical scope to the planetary. A recently published global history of Asian art concluded with a call for a planetary turn (Lee and Hutton 2023, 354-363). What does planetary perspective mean for the study of art history, and Asian art in particular? How could historians of art and architecture effectively address historical and contemporary issues of ecological and planetary relevance? What new methods and analytical insight could planetary perspectives bring to ecocritical art history? To address these questions, Asian Art in Planetary Perspective puts the on-going research of art historians working in diverse sub-fields of Asian art and architecture into conversation about methods and strategies, definitions and concepts, as well as concrete case studies that may be described as “planetary.” Individual contributions focus on planet Earth as art-historical agent, Indian Ocean objects, flora and fauna in Southeast Asia, Mongolian environmental art, and lunar samples acquired by China’s space missions. A plenary response and a roundtable discussion complement six individual case studies. Closely engaging with ecocritical research in non-Asian art history, this panel envisions a planetary approach to art history that would complement and advance established methodologies in the humanities to illuminate the art histories of human-nonhuman relations within the ecosystems on and around planet Earth.
Panel chair: De-nin Lee
Panel discussant: Aurelia Campbell (Boston College)
Tectonic Shifts in Art History
Prof. Dr. De-nin Lee (Emerson College)
Ming Tombs from an Environmental Perspective
Prof. Dr. Aurelia Campbell (Boston College)
Diving for Ocean Objects: Art, Resources and Global Connections
Prof. Dr. Anna Grasskamp (University of Oslo)
Drawing Nature in Colonial Southeast Asia, 1770-1830
Dr. Emily Teo (University of Erfurt)
Global Nomadic Art Project: East Asian Ecologies of Environmental Art
Prof. Dr. Uranchimeg Orna Tsultem (Indiana University)
Moon Rocks in China: Energy, Provenance, and Planetary Heritage
Dr. Feng Schöneweiß (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut)
Q&A and discussion moderated by De-nin Lee
10 September 2025
Room B112.B, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon
Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214, Lisbon, Portugal
Participation at the EAAA (8–13 September 2025) requires prior conference registration.
Conference https://ea-aaa.eu/conference-of-european-association-for-asian-art-and-archaeology-2025/
Notice
This event will be documented photographically and/or recorded on video. Please let us know if you do not agree with the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz using images in which you might be recognizable for event documentation and public relation purposes (e.g. social media).