CONFERENCE REPORT: CIHA 2008 – CROSSING CULTURES 32nd CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE HISTORY OF ART – TAASA Review March 2008

T hat globalism is currently one of art history’s most pressing issues is amply illustrated by CIHA 2008: not only the first meeting of an international congress of the history of art to be ever held in the southern hemisphere, but one which sought to grapple with the theme of “conflict, migration and convergence in the visual, symbolic and artistic exchanges between cultures throughout history”. CIHA conference, (from left) Chaya Chandrasekhar, Curator, South Asian Art, AGNSW; KhanH Trinh, Curator, Japanese Art, AGNSW; Frederick Asher, Professor, Art History, University of Minneapolis, USA; Jackie Menzies, Head Curator of Asian Art, AGNSW. Over 5 days and 19 sessions, the Melbourne conference covered topics that variously addressed the way in which societies and civilisations have worked to generate collective visual cultures.

It asked participants to consider this core question: to what extent will it be necessary to rethink the discipline of art history in order to establish crosscultural dimensions as fundamental to its scope, method and vision? And what role should institutions such as museums play in this process? Given the large scope of the conference, we provide a detailed report on one of the sessions with a strong Asian art focus, as well as coverage of the Postgraduate Events Program. Representations of nature across cultures before the 20th century Sabrina Snow Peoples’ relationship with nature has through time been central to their understanding of their place in both the physical and spiritual world.

In this CIHA session, speakers addressed the ways various artistic traditions, Asian in particular, have reflected this understanding through different interpretations of the landscape in art...