How can we write Art Histories in ways that evenly resound with the collective nature of our work? If we think of ourselves as a multiplicity, then could we also create polyphonic practices in our publications of art history?

This event is a launch for a special issue of Third Text, which was assembled from a panel at the Association for Art History (AAH) conference in 2021 in which participants experimented with new forms of reading and relating to each other's texts through a series of roundtables. Participants included Rex Butler, Khadija Carroll, Renate Dohmen, Stacey Kennedy, Astrid Korporaal, Marie Meyerding, Elizabeth Povinelli, Barbara Preisig, Azadeh Sarjoughian, Pfunzo Sidogi and Deniz Sözen.

The special issue explores the concept of polyphony in writing art history, using it as a methodological lens to examine diverse voices, their intricate interactions and contradictions, archival practices, and the collective creation of knowledge. The authors embrace a spectrum of narratives, from dialogic and experimental approaches to traditional academic styles, challenging canonical art history.

We would love to celebrate our versions of horizontal and artist-centric history with you on themes such as otherness, cross-cultural encounters, living archives, and relational aesthetics, enriching the discourse with varied perspectives.

Edited and hosted by three University of Birmingham Alumni: Azi Sarjoughian, Stacey Kennedy (University of Oxford), and Khadija Carroll (Honorary Chair of Global Art & Professor of History, Central European University, Vienna).