CfP: Colors in Technology – Technology of Colors
Call for Papers: 40th History of Technology Conference
17 and 18 November 2017 in Schlatt, Switzerland
The
40th History of Technology Conference will be held at the Klostergut
Paradies in Schlatt near Schaffhausen, Switzerland on 17 and 18 November
2017. The Conference has served as an outstanding platform for the
exchange of ideas between research, teaching and industry since 1978.
The speakers and the invited guests come from universities, libraries,
collections and museums or contribute their business and industrial
experience. The conferences are renowned for the breadth and topicality
of the papers presented. You can find information on previous
conferences at: www.eisenbibliothek.ch.
This
international and interdisciplinary event is organized by the Iron
Library (Eisenbibliothek), Foundation of Georg Fischer Ltd.
Responsibility for the content of the conference is in the hands of a
scientific advisory board consisting of Dr. Gisela Hürlimann (ETH
Zurich), Prof. Reinhold Reith (University of Salzburg) and Prof.
Friedrich Steinle (TU Berlin), and it is they who decide on the
selection of the speakers.
We kindly invite interested persons involved in research, teaching and practice to apply to present a paper.
Conference topic in 2017: Colors in Technology – Technology of Colors
Throughout
history, human cultures have used color to decorate their artifacts –
amphorae and motor cars, textiles and smartphones – and technological
processes have always been involved in obtaining and producing these
colors, whether they are dyestuffs, pigments or paints. The 2017
Conference on the History of Technology will focus on Colors in
Technology and Technology (or Technologies) of Colors, both in a
European perspective and from a global-historical viewpoint.
The
subject raises a host of different questions and aspects. How were such
'colors' manufactured? By whom and for whom? And how was trade
organized? What is the social status associated with specific colors
(dyes, pigments, and paints), with the painter's or dyer's trade and
with other related trades? What are the gender-specific roles? Dyeing
textiles and leather has long played an important role in society.
Indigo and madder, to take but one example, have undergone societal and
economic ups and downs depending on the particular constellation of
requirements, resources, processes and markets. In early modern times,
for instance, indigo production in India, along with the commercial
network that grew up around it, spelt the end for the flourishing woad
trade in Europe, but in turn it largely collapsed under the onslaught of
the chemical synthesis of indigo in the 19th century. Is this pattern
repeated elsewhere? How and when were hazards to health and the
environment detected, and what was the impact on the manufacture and use
of dyestuffs? The early modern age began to standardize colors,
starting with 17th and 18th century color charts to the binding norms,
say, of the RAL color chart – what was the background to this
standardization in terms of natural history, trade and fashion? How were
color standards designed and developed and how did they gain acceptance
given the well-known difficulties of quantifying color?
When did
people start coloring – painting and dyeing – technical artifacts? Which
individuals – if any – were involved in the decision to do so? What
viewpoints are important here, in terms of the societal situation and
cultural emblems on the one hand and technical or economic possibilities
and scientific results on the other? Where and how was color expertise
developed? These and similar questions apply to colors used in
architecture and on vehicles, colors used in signaling and on uniforms
and clothing, and colors applied to machinery and objects of everyday
use. How did the economic, social, and scientific dynamics develop that
underlie the now ubiquitous use of colors to distinguish goods and
trademarks with their distinctively gender-specific component? Lastly,
how have colors been used – and how are they used today – in painting,
in other figurative arts, and in the media, starting with medieval
manuscript production to color printing, photography and film right up
to modern-day display technologies?
The reconstruction and
restoration of historical coloring is becoming increasingly important,
be it in works of art, in architecture or on technical objects. In what
circumstances are such issues of interest? What practices and
techniques, what historiographical and natural science research findings
are involved, and how do the results affect science and society in
turn?
Proposals for papers on these and other color-related subjects are welcome.
Format
The
papers may be read in English or in German. Papers in German will be
translated simultaneously into English at the Conference. The papers
should not be more than 20 minutes in length. Papers that have been
prepared to scientific standards may be selected for publication in the
specialized journal Ferrum, which is published annually by the Iron Library.
Synopsis
Interested
applicants are kindly invited to submit a synopsis of their paper – no
longer than two A4 pages (4'000 characters) – in English or German,
along with an up-to-date resume, by 30 April 2017 to the Head of the
Iron Library, lic. phil. Franziska Eggimann (franziska.eggimann@georgfischer.com).
Organizational matters
The
Iron Library, Foundation of Georg Fischer Ltd, will assume speakers'
travel expenses and the cost of room and board during the Conference. We
expect that speakers will attend the entire Conference.
Timelines
We request you to submit your synopsis by 30 April 2017.
The selection of the speakers will be completed by the end of May 2017.
Contact Info:
Franziska Eggimann
Managing Director Iron Library Foundation
Schlatt/Switzerland
Contact Email: