Dr. Ravi Binning, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Art, will present The Art of Affective Piety in the East: Re-Thinking Origins and Effects as part of the annual CMRS Colloquium series.
Psychosomatic devotion to the Crucifixion— “affective piety”—has long been upheld as one of the most compelling “inventions” of medieval Christianity. Unsurprisingly, twentieth-century scholars focused on affective piety as a medieval phenomenon legitimizing Western Europe as a place in which “compassion” became mediated by poetry and works of art. A rich assortment of objects and texts survive, however, from far earlier in Jerusalem, Egypt and Constantinople aiding the similar cultivation of spiritual wounding. Accounting for how these objects allowed for fear and grief to be cultivated in relation to the Passion—as well as their broader relationship to monasticism and pilgrimage—will be the topic of this talk with Dr. Ravi Binning. This evidence shows that the origins of affective piety is far earlier than even Byzantinists recognize.
This event is free and open to the public.
Ravi Binning specializes in the art and architecture of the late antique and medieval Mediterranean world. His work is inspired by the question of how ancient and medieval aesthetics relate to the global present. His teaching and research addresses the art historical memory and canon-making; the relationship between art and psychosomatic experience; visual and architectural constructions of power, the carceral and the apocalyptic. His research has been supported by the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) as well as the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art, Washington. His first book engages fear as an aesthetic construction in medieval art. He is also at work on two other projects, one devoted to the salvaged art of Byzantine Nubia and another to the afterlife of the Egyptian Christian mystical treatise, The Heavenly Ladder of John Climacus. Some of his research will soon appear in Dumbarton Oaks Papers and Speculum.
The Humanities Institute and its related centers host a wide range of events, from intense discussions of works in progress to cutting-edge presentations from world-known scholars, artists, activists and everything in between.
We value in-person engagement at our events as we strive to amplify the energy in the room. But we also recognize the fact that not all our guests will be able to visit our space. Zoom access will be available to this event upon request. If you wish to have such access or have any other accommodation request, please send your request to Megan Moriarty: moriarty.8@osu.edu.
