Pompeii

RUINS AND RECONSTRUCTIONS: POMPEII IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION

17th-19th July 2007, Clifton Hill House, University of Bristol
The 5th Marks Conference
The 9th BIRTHA Conference

Commemoration of the eighteenth centenary of destruction of pompeii: excavations in the ninth region

In the two hundred and fifty years since excavations began, Pompeii has became a major source of inspiration to western imaginations. The site, and the widely accessible creations it inspired throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (novels, films, paintings, exhibitions, domestic interiors, souvenirs and guide books) brought antiquity into the public sphere of knowledge, to be shared between gentleman enthusiasts, middle-class readers and music hall audiences alike. More recently, whilst the physical state of the site itself has reached a critical state of decay, a surge of popular interest in Pompeii, a prototype ground zero, has seen the city, as imaginative tool, model of disaster and tourist hotspot, reach a wider audience than ever before.

This conference, sponsored by the Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts, will explore the popular receptions and representations of Pompeii. Our aim is to provide a stimulating environment in which academics studying the city and its reception can be brought together with practitioners who have tried to bring Pompeii to life in media such as novels, painting, photography, documentary and journalism. Confirmed keynote speakers include Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Mary Beard, Stephen Harrison, Stefano de Caro, Lindsey Davis and Victor Burgin.

Conference organisers: Shelley Hales (Shelley.Hales@bris.ac.uk) and Joanna Paul (Joanna.Paul@liverpool.ac.uk)

For more details on Casts project see: http://casts-project.blog-city.com/   

Supported by:
The Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts (BIRTHA)
The Marks Foundation
The British Academy
The Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition
School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, The University of Liverpool