Visualizing Portuguese Power. The Political Use of Images in Portugal and Its Overseas Empire (16th to 18th Century)

organized by Urte Krass, Munich

Images have always played a vital role in political communication and
in the visualization of power structures and hierarchies. They gain
even more importance in situations where non-verbal communication
prevails: In the negotiation processes between two (or more) different
cultures, the language of the visual is often thought of as the more
effective way to acquaint (and overpower) the others with one's own
principles, beliefs, value systems. Scores of these asymmetrical
exchange situations have taken place in the contact zones of the
Portuguese overseas Empire since its gradual expansion in the 15th
century. By bringing together international experts, the workshop aims
at taking a closer look at the visualization of political ideas and
concepts and the political appropriation of Christian art works in the
Early Modern Portuguese Empire.

Programme

Thursday, 26 September, Center for Advanced Studies / LMU Munich

9:30
Urte Krass (LMU Munich): Welcome and Introduction to the Workshop

10:00
Maria Berbara (Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro): "Imperial
Propaganda and the Representation of Otherness in Portugal and Its Colonies in the Early Modern Times"

11:00 Coffee Break

11.30
Giuseppina Raggi (CHAM/UNL Lisbon): "Building the Image of the
Portuguese Empire: The Power of Quadratura Painting"

12:30 Lunch Break

15:00
Carla Alferes Pinto (CHAM Lisbon): "Conflict, Accommodation, and
Strategy. The Use of Images and the Political and Religious Agenda in
the Convent of St. Monica in Goa"

16:00
Giuseppe Marcocci (Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo):
"Stones of Contention: Factions, Statues, and the Political Use of
Memory in Early Modern Goa"

17:00 Coffee Break

18:00
Ines G. Zupanov (EHESS, Paris): "Descriptive Visualizations. Nature and Empire in Portuguese Asia (16th-17th Centuries)

 

Friday, 27 September

10:00
Pamila Gupta (WISER, Johannesburg): "Dressing Up in 17th-Century
Portuguese India"

11:00
Barbara Karl (Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Wien): "Translations of
Powerful Symbols: Bengal Embroideries for the Portuguese Market,
c. 1600"

12:00 Lunch Break

14:30
Jens Baumgarten (Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo): "Political and
Visual Strategies between History and Propaganda in Colonial Brazil"

15:30
Márcia Almada (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais): "The
Calligraphy and the Royal Emblems: An Analysis of Brazilian Painted
Manuscripts"

Center for Advanced Studies / LMU
Seestraße 13
80802 München

Please register at info@cas.lmu.de

With financial support of the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung

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