Wear: Indexing the Human Body
52nd Annual Cleveland Symposium
Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Friday, November 13, 2026
The Department of Art History and Art at Case Western Reserve University invites current and recent graduate students to submit paper abstracts for the 2026 Annual Symposium, Wear: Indexing the Body by August 7, 2026. Held in partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Art as part of the joint program between CWRU and CMA, the Cleveland Symposium is one of the longest-running annual art history symposia in the United States organized by graduate students. This year’s symposium invokes the double meaning of the word wear, as clothing, accessories, or adornments on the body or the physical damage an item accumulates over time. The symposium welcomes innovative research papers that explore how art interacts with the human body and the human body interacts with art in any medium, as well as in any historical period and geographic location. Different methodological perspectives, including conservation and scientific insights, are welcome.
Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:
Fashion, worn items, and adornment
Arms and armor
Bodily traces on objects
Object traces on bodies
Evidence of use and damage
Fingerprints, handprints, marks made by the body on objects
Bodily reception of art, environmental reception
Medical art and the aesthetics of healing
Somatics and sensory engagement
Embodied artistic practices
Current and recent graduate students in art history and related disciplines are invited to submit an abstract of up to 250 words and a CV to clevelandsymposium@gmail.com by Friday, August 7, 2026. Selected participants will be notified by the end of August. Presentations should be between 15–18 minutes in length. The symposium is planned as an in-person event. Speakers will be responsible for their own travel, but lodging with CWRU graduate students will be arranged for interested participants.
Please send any questions to Anna Farber and Helena von Sadovszky at clevelandsymposium@gmail.com.
