Introduction
In February 2024 a very productive workshop on camouflage, concealment and illusion was organized by the Fitzwilliam Museum, that brought together the Wende Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum, the Archive of Modern Conflict, several participants from the Cultures of Camouflage research group, as well as representatives from Zoology, the University Library, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The aims of this workshop were to scope collections with a view to a possible research-driven interdisciplinary exhibition on camouflage, concealment and illusion. Since then much has happened, not in the last place the approval of two research grant applications: one submitted by Caroline van Eck to the Cambridge Humanities Research Grants to fund two more workshops, the other by Bram Van Oostveldt and Caroline van Eck to the Flemish Research Council to fund a PhD, Postdoc, seminars, research visits, publications and outreach. The latter has given us very substantial funding for five years to investigate the relations between mimicry, mimesis and the theatre in Antiquity, the 18th century, and role of mimesis and the theatre in Darwin and Wallace's ideas on mimicry.
The present workshop, to be held from May 14 to 16 in King's College, has several aims:
1. To continue networking and anchoring camouflage research in Cambridge. Last year the UL,Museum of Zoology, Botanical Garden, Fitzwilliam and Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology organized extremely rich presentations of relevant holdings, which inspired many new conversations. This time we aim to consolidate these explorations with a view to a possible exhibition at one of our partner institutions in Cambridge, Ghent or Pisa, and next stages in shared research questions.
2. To present the Ghent/Cambridge research project The Prehistory of Camouflage and Mimicry: Adaptive Behavior, Acting, and Mimesis in Antiquity, the18th Century, and the Early Stages of Evolution Theory in the 1860s.
3. To provide a survey of the state of the art in camouflage and mimicry research in zoology, art history and theatre studies to provide a shared field of knowledge for all participants of the workshop.
4. To develop shared research questions with a view to a larger research grant application.
5. To expand the network of scholars working in this field.
This workshop is generously funded by the Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Program, the Flemish Research Council and Ghent University.
PROGRAMME
Wednesday May 14 (Dept of Art History, Classroom, Scroope Terrace)
14.00 Welcome and introduction to workshop (Caroline van Eck)
14.30 Keynote 1: Bram Van Oostveldt (Ghent): camouflage and theatricality
15.30-16.00 Break
16.00 Keynote 2: Bertrand Prévost (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne): Powdery Appearances. Image, Camouflage, Cosmetics.
17.00 Keynote 3: Emmelyn Butterfield-Rosen (Institute for Fine Art New York): Eyes of Argus: Aesthetic Judgement in Artand Evolution
Thursday May 15 (King's College, Audit Room, open to public, in hybrid format)
09.30 - 12.30 King's College, Audit Room: Presentation of the Ghent/Cambridge researchproject The Prehistory of Camouflage and Mimicry: Adaptive Behavior, Acting, and Mimesis in Antiquity, the 18th Century, and the Early Stages of Evolution Theory in the 1860s.
09.30-10.00 Introduction by Bram Van Oostveldt and Caroline van Eck
10.00-10.30 Niki Hadikoesoemo (Ghent/Amsterdam): Mimesis, mimicry and mime in ancient philosophy, zoology and the theatre
10.30-11.00 Zoë Vanderhaeghen (Ghent): (Un)Masking Dissimulation in Catherine De Medici’s Ballet Des Polonais (1573)
11.00-11.30 Break
11.30-12.00 Maude Bass-Krueger (Ghent): Becoming Animal: Travestissement and Anxiety at the Bal des bêtes
12.00-12.30 Presentation Natural History of Humanities Program (Irene Galandra and Jill Whitelock, University Library Cambridge)
12.30-14.00 Lunch (King's)
14.00-17.30 Psychological and Zoological Approaches to Camouflage
14.15-15.00 Nicola Clayton (Cambridge): tbc
15.00-15.30 Willa Lane (Cambridge): Evolutionary perspectives on camouflage and cognition in cephalopods
15.30-16.00 Victor Ajuwon (Cambridge): Tools for studying cognition and deception incephalopods
16.00-16.30 Break
16.30-17.30 Sam Matchette (Cambridge): Camouflage vs movement: How animals can conceal on the move
19.00 Drinks and dinner for speakers
FridayMay 16 (King's College, Audit Room)
10.00-11.00 Museum and Collections visits (on individual basis)
11.00-13.00 The Aesthetics of Camouflage
11.00-12.00 Liza Foley (Royal Museum of Art and History, Brussels/Ghent): Surface Tensions: Animal Bodies, Human Artifice,and Polite Performance
12.00-13.00 Lorenzo Bartalesi (Pisa): mimicry and aesthetic attention
13.00-14.00 Lunch (King's College)
14.00-17.30 (closed session for speakers and organizers)
14.00-17.00 Development of shared research agenda; planning second workshop in November in Pisa
15.00-15.30 Break
17.30 Concluding remarks
For information and registration please contact Caroline van Eck (cav35@cam.ac.uk) and Zoë Vanderhaeghen (Zoe.Vanderhaeghen@Ugent.be).