University of Pennsylvania
Department of Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies
Graduate Conference: April 26th, 2025
CFP Reimagining Collage
Although the technique of collage as an art form first appeared in medieval Europe as
early as the 13th century, the term was only officially coined by art historians after 1900,
under the influence of André Breton and the Surrealist movement. As a medium, collage
became instrumental for the exploration of automatism and stream of consciousness in
creating visual works of art and literary assemblages. Georges Braque and then Pablo
Picasso established collage as a distinct part of Modern Art and inscribed it in the
Cubist tradition. The medium was subsequently exploited by numerous European
artists, notably in Germany and Italy, with artists such as Hannah Höch, Bruno Munari,
and Vinicio Paladini, to name but a few. The Oxford Dictionary proposes the following
definition: “the art of making a picture by sticking pieces of colored paper, cloth, or
photographs onto a surface; a picture that you make by doing this.”
Without any restriction to this preliminary definition, we would like to invite you to
re(examine) this medium under the multiple forms and definitions that it embodies such
as visual, literary, poetic, musical, and cinematographic iterations. For example, we
might consider exploring the following concepts: assemblage, deconstruction,
reconstruction, hierarchization, collaboration, juxtaposition, superimposition, temporal
and atemporal collage, palimpsests, aesthetics of rupture and fragmentation, personal
vs. collective, miscellany, aesthetic strategy (content vs. format), fragmentation of the
individual, linguistic reinvention, digital mapping, etc.
The FIGGS 2025 conference aims to address a multifaceted notion of “Collage” and the
various questions it raises across French, Italian, and Germanic history, literature, and
culture. We welcome submissions from a variety of perspectives and fields of study,
including (but not limited to):
• Philology, language, and literature
• Sociology, psychology, and anthropology
• Cinema and media studies
• Ecocriticism, environmental humanities
• Translation Studies
• Queer and Gender Studies
• Colonial/postcolonial literature and studies
• Medieval and Renaissance studies
• Manuscript studies and history of material texts
• Religious Studies
• History and sociology of science studies
• Mediterranean Studies
• Transnational Studies
• Digital Humanities
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All submissions must be sent via email in a single Word document entitled “Last Name
FIGGS 2025” to upennfiggs@gmail.com no later than Feb. 10th, 2025 and include the
following items: 1) an abstract (250 words max) 2) a short bio 3) your full name and
pronouns, email address, professional affiliation, and any dietary restrictions. Please
use “FIGGS Conference 2025” in the subject line of the email.
Participation in this conference is free. No organizational registration is required.
Presentations should be given in English and not exceed 15 minutes.
The 2025 FIGGS conference will be held in-person on 04/26/2025 at the University of
Pennsylvania, and will include a lecture from Dr. Mame-Fatou Niang.