IMAGINES is an international and cross-disciplinary research network focusing on modern receptions of Antiquity in the visual and performing arts. A key objective of the project is the understanding of different interpretations, appropriations, constructions and neglected areas of the classical inheritance across epochs, societies, cultural expressions, and movements. Subject areas under investigation include Theatre, Dance, Cinema, Opera, Sculpture, Architecture, Painting, Comics and Graphic Novels, Design, Photography, Video Games and Multimedia. The project is interdisciplinary in nature and involves scholars and artists from a wide range of fields and countries (Italy, France, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Austria and the UK).
IMAGINES’ most relevant collective initiatives are our bi-annual conferences. Seven European cities have hosted Imagines conferences so far: 2007 Logroño; 2010 Bristol; 2012 Mainz; 2014 Faro; 2016 Torino; 2018 Toulouse; and Göttingen in 2021. The next Imagines conference (8) will take place in Madrid in 2023.
Relevant outcomes of our network are the volumes based on our research. Thanks to a collaboration with Bloomsbury Publishing, we have created a new book series, directed by Filippo Carlà-Uhink and Martin Lindner, which hosts our conference volumes, as well as other exciting works focusing on modern visual receptions of the ancient world. Click here to find out more on the series: Imagines: Classical Receptions in the Visual and Performing arts.
The universal character of the themes and approaches that shape IMAGINES is intended to offer a basis for not only interdisciplinary debates on the impact of antiquity in the arts, but also open creative and fruitful discussions about the diversity of reception(s) in different cultural traditions.
IMAGINES aims to establish fluent dialogues and creative collaborative initiatives between academia, further education, the arts and their public. A trademark of IMAGINES is thus a collaboration with non-academic specialists and artists, who find in antiquity the inspiration for their work.
Such collaborators have thus far included the renowned landscape gardener Fernando Caruncho (Madrid),famous graphic novelist Eric Shanower (San Diego), composer Phil Bennets (Bristol), the playwright and director Stephan Seidel (Mainz), filmmaker João Canijo (Lisbon), and photographer and cartoonist José Bandeira (Lisbon), as well as streets artists such as SEN Silva (Olhão). In 2016, we had the chance to learn about historical costume making and modelling thanks to the Turin designer and model Danielle Fiore. The Toulouse conference in 2018 included a sensory workshop organised by Les Fées Bottées, a Toulouse based cultural and professional association devoted to the production of ancient cosmetics and perfumes. In Göttingen, the conference included an event by the Spanish Street artists PichiAvo, as well as a workshop by the Italian theatre company Teatro delle Albe, from their project Non Scuola. We regard this cross-fertilisation with artists, authors and creative economies as a fundamental brand of IMAGINES; a refreshing input that aims to transcend academia and vindicate the multisided influence of Classical Reception in the building of modern cultural expressions and social identities.
