The Institute of Art History – The Cvito Fisković Centre in Split call for papers for an international conference organized as part of a week of events in scholarship and research Discovering Dalmatia XI, to be held on 11 – 13 December 2025.
Keynote Speaker is Heather Hyde Minor, University of Notre Dame.

This year’s Discovering Dalmatia conference in Split is specifically dedicated to exploring the ways in which these two forms of representation intertwine within the travel genre. The focus will be on the dynamic relationship between words and images: on the function of visual elements (illustrations, graphics, photographs) within, and alongside, the travel text, and on how – together – they shape the narrative tone of the travelogue and the perception of a particular place. We encourage presenters to think about diachronic perspectives – which follow changes in the relationship between image and text over time – as well as the dialogical nature of this interaction, and how this might raise questions about authorship, credibility, cultural translation, and intermediality in travel literature.

The conference aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines – the history of art, architecture, literature, visual culture, anthropology, and media studies – to reflect on how the interrelationship between image and text in travelogues contributes to the construction of meaning, memory, and cultural identity. Dalmatia, with its rich presence in the European travel writing tradition, offers particularly fertile ground for such research.

We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers. Proposals consisting of a 250-word abstract and a short CV in Croatian or English should be sent via email as a pdf attachment to discoveringdalmatia@gmail.com by 15 July 2025.

The hosts will organise coffee and refreshments for conference participants during breaks. No participation fee will be charged for this conference. The organisers do not cover travel and accommodation costs. The organisers can help participants to find reasonably-priced accommodation in the historic city centre. Papers and discussions will be conducted in English. The duration of a spoken contribution should not exceed 20 minutes. Presentations will be followed by discussions. The organisers propose to publish a collection of selected papers from the conference.

Read more: https://ipu.hr/content/info/Discovering_Dalmatia_XI_CFP.pdf