Call for Papers

This panel explores marginal art-historical narratives to re-examine normative understandings of the arts of Safavid (1501-1722) city of Isfahan. Challenging the art historical tradition of considering Isfahan as a place of ‘courtly’ productions as its main output, the panel draws attention to the acknowledgement that artistic scenes in the cosmopolitan Isfahan, were woven phenomena and shift the focus on the question of the agency of the marginal groups in fashioning multiple meanings of art/architecture in the city. Current scholarship concentrates primarily on the artistic-political representation of Isfahan as the Safavid empire capital. It focusses especially on major urban ensembles, such as Naqsh-i Jahān Maydan and Chahār-bāgh Avenue, and elite courtly manuscripts and single-page paintings by celebrated artists of the time. In contrast, this panel investigates minority and peripheral artistic agency. This agency is largely absent from art historical discourse yet actively present in Safavid Isfahan, as shown by surviving non-courtly manuscripts, objects, and buildings.

How were several minority groups such as Armenians and Jews perceived and received in the Isfahani artistic communities? What was the place of marginal groups like women in art – such as book arts? How were these groups approached and documented in the historical accounts of the time? Are manuscript paintings of 17th-century Isfahan mere representatives of the ‘visible’ part of the society? Are the dominant narratives of art and society devoid of traces of the artistic productions of the ‘invisible’ and vice versa? How did possibly a fusion – or seclusion – of the marginal arts take place and how can we use this new knowledge in rewriting art histories of Iran?

This panel invites fresh perspectives, addressing the methodological urgency and reforming the analytical lens for the study of Safavid art/architecture through the perspective of marginal art history. Such reforming may take place through revisiting the relationship between the artist’s beliefs, emotions, and the society and questioning the pre-assumed hierarchical systems and dichotomies of Safavid Isfahan and the way multiple fragments of it negotiated and functioned towards the artistic production.

For the session details, see: https://forarthistory.org.uk/60-marginal-art-histories-of-safavid-isfahan/

Please submit your abstract (maximum of 250 words) for a presentation of about 15-20 minutes via the AAH 2027 Call for Papers Proposal Submission Form by 23:59 UK, Sunday, 25 October 2026.

For further questions, email the convenor at: Mahroo.moosavi@khi.fi.it 

Please note that you will need to be an AAH member and register for the conference to take part and present your paper.

For further information, see: https://forarthistory.org.uk/conference/2027-exeter/

The Connected Teams program invites applications for its second round of postdoctoral fellowships from researchers whose projects address the intersections of art, heritage, and environments in South Asia and/or Latin America. The newly selected fellows will join the program’s three current fellows in Calcutta and Bogotá. Two fellowships will be affiliated with the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC), and one with the Department of Art History at the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá (Uniandes). Fellowships can begin between 1 March and 1 May 2027 and will run for 20–24 months each.

Connected Teams aims to examine and practice art histories through transcultural and eco-critical approaches, in a way that allows a rethinking and reshaping of both in terms of their interrelations, including the ecologies of the research process itself. Operating on the premise that ‘objects’ are neither stable nor exclusively human-made, the program envisions art historical research—in dialogue with neighboring disciplines—to be concerned with porous, entangled, and dynamic relations among environments, objects, monuments, heritage, and landscapes, including their multiscalar histories and multiple temporalities.

The program consists of three teams in South Asia (India), South America (Colombia), and Europe (Italy, Germany), respectively. The teams convene annually for a Seasonal School and connect in virtual formats in between. The program strives for experimental modes of field work, new approaches to archives of all kinds, virtual tools for collaboration, communication, and remote site visits, as well as visual and auditory forms of documentation. Through its novel structure, the project poses methodological challenges for undertaking research on historical and contemporary visual and material cultures by means of interdisciplinary conversations and interactions, as well as sustained engagement with multiple communities in both scholarly and public-facing work. At stake is the question of how to practice Art History today; for the Connecting Teams program, this includes collaborations with filmmakers, artists, engineers, heritage professionals, biologists, and others.

The program invites research projects that address globally shared yet locally differentiated concerns at the intersections of (trans-)regional art histories and ecologies. It particularly welcomes proposals that connect these objectives with innovative digital approaches, moving beyond established modes of engaging technology toward critical inquiry or practical application and related ethical or historiographical implications. Some of the guiding questions and topics are:

• Unsettling nature/culture divides in and of the Anthropocene.
• Ecological crisis and threats to the future of life in its diversity on Earth: What is the relevance (and what can be the future) of Art History under such conditions?
• The menaces and consequences of climate change: their impact on the attention, imaginations, and practices of artists, heritage professionals, and humanities scholars.
• Synergies, tensions, and reciprocities between the care of plant or animal species and that of human-made monuments or sites.
• How to study and document the ways monuments and landscapes—designed and built centuries ago—and their makers have interacted with climate conditions and environments, e.g. mountain and river systems? This includes the study of materials, their procurement and lifespans, that of historical techniques, building practices, etc.
• Art histories between ecologies, anthropologies, and social dynamics, such as engagements with (trans-)regional communities or touristification.
• Narratives (decolonial and/or nationalist, Indigenous, etc.), language cultures, and translatability, and their relevance to transregional research and collaboration.
• Spaces of display and study as ecosystems: What is the voice of the discipline regarding museums and their practices as well as heritage-site management?

APPLICATION PROCESS

Candidates

The call for applications is open to emerging scholars who have received their PhD on 1 January 2021 or later. In cases of parental leave, the PhD eligibility period may be extended by one additional year per child. PhD candidates who will have defended their dissertation by the start of the fellowship (March–May 2027) are also eligible. Applications are invited from scholars irrespective of nationality, and we welcome applications from all regions, with various disciplinary formations, including but not limited to Art History, Aesthetics, Archaeology, Anthropology/Ethnology, History, Architecture, Heritage Studies, Sound Studies, Sociology, Digital Humanities, Performance Studies, and neighboring fields. Applicants may have earned their degrees in cognate disciplines; however, proposed research should at least have a strong affinity to the discipline of Art History. Each institution is an equal opportunity employer.

Fellows will have the opportunity to pursue their individual research projects within the partners’ transdisciplinary and transregional frameworks. Applicants should demonstrate an interest in digital, reflexive, and transdisciplinary research, as well as an openness to collaborative exchange. Research is expected to be centered on South Asia and/or Latin America. Please indicate your preferred host institution, either in Bogotá or Kolkata, in the application portal.

Fellowships

Each fellowship is supported by a stipend determined according to local standards for post-doctoral fellowships, amounting to approx. COP 9 million/month (gross) for fellows based in Bogotá, and approx. INR 90,000/month for fellows based in Kolkata. Fellowships (including travel and relocation support) follow the regulations of the host institution. Organizational assistance with visas, insurance, and housing will be provided. The working language of the project is English. In Bogotá, Spanish skills are welcome, since the fellow at Uniandes will be expected to co-teach courses with the PIs.

Post-doctoral fellows are expected to take up residency in their host institution’s city, actively participating in the institution’s intellectual life as well as in the program itself. Moreover, fellows will be invited to spend up to four months at one of the other partner institutions for which additional funding can be provided. They will participate in regular digital workshops and will convene annually for a Seasonal School, organized by one of the partner institutions. The first School in Colombia was concluded in July 2026; the second one will take place in India in December 2027, the third in Italy in 2028.

Application

To apply, please submit the following documents as PDF files via the KHI application portal:

• Motivation letter / personal statement (max. 1,000 words, in English) describing your career trajectory to date and how the fellowship will support your proposed project and long-term goals
• Project title and description (max. 1,500 words, in English)
• Curriculum Vitae (in English)
• Sample of scholarly work (an article, conference paper, or book chapter, approx. 20 pages)
• Two letters of recommendation can either be uploaded by applicants or sent directly by the referees to connectedteams@khi.fi.it by 13 November 2026 (PST). In addition, applicants are asked to provide the name and email address of a third referee.

For FAQ on the application process, please see the Downloads section below.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Connected Teams (2026–29) is a collaborative research project of: 

• Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut (KHI) with 4A_Lab, Berlin
• Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC)
• El Departamento de Historia del Arte, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá (Uniandes)

Websites:

https://www.khi.fi.it/de/forschung/kooperationsprojekte/connected-teams.php
https://www.cssscal.org/
https://hat.uniandes.edu.co/

Project Leaders, Principal Investigators:

Hannah Baader (PL), Gerhard Wolf (PL), Rosinka Chaudhuri (PI), Nachiket Chanchani (PI), Olga Isabel Acosta (PI), Alexander Herrera (PI)

Contact:

Philip Geisler
Scientific Coordinator

Connected Teams
c/o 4A Lab
Sigismundstraße 4
10785 Berlin, Germany

E-Mail: connectedteams@khi.fi.it

This program is made possible with support from Getty through its Connecting Art Histories initiative.