Bellum, Commercia et Artes – Representation and Innovation During the Northern Wars

Data limite: 15 de Abril
Venue: Nadbaltyckie Centrum Kultury, Gdańsk / The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdansk. Organizer: Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Europe (GWZO) at Universität Leipzig. Project ‘Bellum, commercia et artes: Maritime trade, urban development and artistic representation in north-eastern Europe during the Northern Wars (1554–1721)’.
For almost two centuries, political events in north-eastern Europe were shaped by the struggle for dominium maris Baltici (supremacy in the Baltic region), which played a crucial role in the political restructuring of early modern Europe. Indeed, Klaus Zernack defined the era of the Northern Wars – including the Baltic region’s involvement in the Thirty Years War – as a distinct historical epoch which had a formative impact on the region and beyond. The planned conference will address this geographical and temporal context of the early modern struggle for supremacy in the Baltic reign (1554–1721) by exploring the imagery and symbolism of the power struggles and social negotiation processes at the political, social and cultural level. After all, the struggle for supremacy between Poland–Lithuania, Russia, Sweden, and partly also the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and Denmark was reflected in foreign policy and in a regional context in symbolic actions expressed in urban development as well as artistic and ceremonial representation. Military confrontations – without ignoring their destructive impact – can be viewed as the driving force behind processes of social modernization. Their contribution to cultural and economic development is particularly apparent from the representational practices of political and economic elites closely linked to trade, architecture and artistic patronage in the municipal and royal spheres. Concise examples are provided by flourishing cities like Gdansk and medium-sized trading cities in the Baltic region (such as Königsberg, Reval, Narva and Elbl?g) as well as activities at the Swedish, Russian, Polish, Prussian and Danish courts. On the one hand, war-related representational trends reflected in for instance concrete construction and furnishing campaigns and associated with both the rise of new elites (magnates, military commanders, governors and trading companies) and denominational negotiation processes will be of particular interest. In addition, the conference will concentrate on not only material evidence of economic, denominational and political power struggles, but also the performance of diplomatic negotiations, for the claims to power and the power structures enforced were constructed not least in ceremonial. These aspects will be analysed from the perspectives of history, the history of art and culture, architectural history, economic history and historical urban studies.
Attention will be paid to the dichotomous view taking into account on the one hand the ‘productive force’ of the Northern Wars promoting social processes such as the division of power in the Baltic region, the representation of one’s own supremacy in material and performative symbols, and the formation of identity and loyalty in the context of the changing constellations of power, and on the other hand theconstructive potential of urban development, artistic production and ceremonial for military conquests.
The Northern Wars will hence be examined simultaneously from the angles of the demonstration and the construction of power structures, as illustrated by the following fundamental questions: How did the destructive and productive actions associated with the Northern Wars (including economic factors) influence the formation of identity and loyalty, cultural transfer, existing networks and the rhetoric of the representation of power structures in art, architecture and performance? How were military conquests supported or constituted by maritime trade, urban development, artistic production and diplomatic ceremonial?
Furthermore, a range of individual aspects can be considered: How did the dynamics of the Northern Wars affect trade and artistic representation in the Baltic region? What links existed between trade, warfare and urban development in the towns and cities on the Baltic? What role did the heterogeneity of the urban population play in urban design and economic structures? To what extent was the migration of artists, architects and engineers a result of hostilities – and to what degree did it influence the region’s artistic and urban development? How were military conflicts externally legitimized in the symbolic communication of art, architecture and performance? What part did aesthetic expression in art and performance play in the legitimation of power structures?
+info/fonte: http://research.uni-leipzig.de/gwzo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1204&Itemid=1903