Seminar for the advanced study of the historic interior in India:
The Centre for Historic Houses, India, is organising a seminar for the advanced study of the historic interior in India with a particular focus on room typologies (17th-20th century):
Interior Worlds: Rooms, pleasure and sociability in Indian palaces from the 17th to the early 20th century
Visits to Indian palaces and forts offer extraordinary aesthetic experiences. Yet the meaning, use and function of their interiors is largely unexplored. Floods of empty rooms demonstrate that Indian palaces relied primarily on surface decoration - their void remains an enigma to visitors. This seminar addresses the understudied topic of the historic interior in India and seeks to unlock the hidden histories of rooms in Indian palaces from the time of the Mughals to the early 20thcentury when travelling Maharajas incorporated the experiences of their visits to different areas of the globe into new buildings and interiors in India. The secret lives of walls, art, objects and room typologies as well as the relationship with those who commissioned them, created them and lived in them will be explored through various case studies. How do interiors, art and furnishings represent value systems, interests, taste and identity? Which interior strategies were employed and what does the planning and design of rooms tell us about the interior worlds of their inhabitants? The often poetic names given to specific rooms or segments of the palace offer fascinating clues to their use and meaning: Phool mahal, Sheesh mahal, chini khana, chitra shala or Badal Mahal – these are some of the designations that tell us of the interior world of love, imaginary worlds, appreciation of art, cosmopolitanism, pleasure and the garden. They highlight the fluidity between the exterior and the interior – the inner world of buildings and the people and their relationship with the world close by and at large. The Centre for Historic Houses invites scholars to share research on the historic interior in India with a particular focus on room typologies.
Information on the Seminar:
The Seminar will be hosted in an online or hybrid format twice a month during the semester for the duration of one year starting in April 2023. Presentations are expected to be ca 20-40 minutes in length depending on the number of presenters. The duration of each seminar will be 1,5h with up to 3 presenters followed by a discussion. The purpose of the seminar is the establishment of a research group dedicated to the historic interior in India and the publication of an edited book. We are also interested in utilizing the research findings in interpretation strategies in palace museums or other museum contexts. The seminar is organised by the Centre for Historic Houses (National Expert Heritage Body and Member of INTO -International National Trusts Organisation) OP Jindal Global University, India.
Who can submit:
The seminar is aimed at curators and scholars at different stages of their career. Ph.D Scholars in the final stages of their Ph.D are also welcome.
How to submit:
To be considered please share a short abstract not exceeding 270 words and a brief biographical paragraph by 1 March to Dr. Esther Schmidt, info.chh@jgu.edu.in
