The prohibition of drawing, referring to topographies or architecture, has rarely been a topic of art history or visual studies, although it can be accounted for in Europe since the 16th century. But such interdictions prove the power that was ascribed to on site-drawings. They were decreed to impede military espionage, in reaction to the practice of producing, collecting and storing not only maps, but also images of the landscapes, cities, fortifications, and harbours of potential enemies, in order to be used in case of a military conflict. It can be assumed that these military restrictions of civilian artistic practices not only shaped those historic representations of land- and cityscapes and of architecture that exist in collections and archives today, but that they also shaped artistic practices of drawing on the spot.

While early examples of prohibitions of drawing seem to have been issued more locally, they can be found in national laws since the 19th century. In spite of photography, handycams and GPS navigation, they still exist today, for example in the United States' law against spying, where chapter 37; 795 regulates "Photographing and sketching defense installations". Through a more precise knowledge of military interdictions of drawing, a new assessment of the role and power that were historically ascribed to visual representations of architectures and topographies will be possible. The effect of these interdictions can then be investigated on the basis of historical views of exemplary places that were affected by such restrictions. New insights into the historical perception of landscape, cities and buildings can be expected.

The colloquium sets out to investigate military interdictions of drawing through a series of case studies, in order to get first answers to very basic questions: Where and through which authorities were interdictions of drawing issued? How were such interdictions communicated and spread? How and in which cases were exceptions, i.e. permissions to draw, possible, and how were they given? What do draughtsmen and -women report about their handling of such prohibitions, did they circumvent them, and if so, how? How did prohibitions influence the production, the iconography, and maybe the aesthetic strategies of drawings? How did prohibitions of drawing mould the perception of specific landscapes and architectures? Do drawings that represent places referred to by prohibitions need to be reinterpreted? What role does the interdiction of drawing play today?

The organizers are looking for contributions from European Art History, from Military and Espionage History, History of Cartography, Surveillance Studies, etc.

Papers should concern the above questions in the period between 1500 and today.

Please submit an abstract of 1/2 page in German or English and a short CV to: Dr. Ulrike Boskamp (ulrike.boskamp@fu-berlin.de) and Prof. Sebastian Fitzner (sebastian.fitzner@fu-berlin.de)

Conference Venue:  Kunsthistorisches Institut der Freien Universität Berlin, Koserstr. 20, 14195 Berlin

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Contact:

Dr. Ulrike Boskamp

FOR 1703

Kunsthistorisches Institut

Freie Universität Berlin

Koserstr. 20

14195 Berlin