The international conference “Indifferent Things? Material and Ceremonial Church Practices in the 16th and 17th Centuries in the Baltic Sea Region” (14–16 Sept 2017) in the series of the Homburger Gespräche (Böckler-Mare-Balticum-Stiftung) and the fifth conference in honour of Prof. Sten Karling (1906–1987)
Icon worship, the Catholic Church’s love of luxury, the grandeur of ceremonies and vestments, and the sale of indulgences, were among the most significant criticisms expressed by the Reformation movement. It was, however, only in 1548 that a more serious dispute over adiaphora, or Mitteldinge, began in the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation; the attitude of the evangelical church towards “indifferent things” was ultimately formulated in the Konkordiaformel in 1570. Confessional and institutional regulations often differed substantially from the actual practices of congregations. Naturally, the two were interdependent, and therefore, it seems productive to study the material and art history of the Lutheran Church of the Early Modern period through the relationship and mutual effects of the norms and their executors: pastors, members of congregation, artists etc. At the same time, the secular world, though seemingly outside the ecclesiastical life and practices, cannot be overlooked, together with its connections to power and money. We will, therefore, proceed from the view that in order to comprehend the Lutheran Church of the Early Modern period, it must be studied as a complex phenomenon, influenced by a number of factors, including material objects. Also, we are interested in whether “regional practices” existed, and will, therefore, focus on a particular historical area, the evangelical territories of the Baltic Sea region.
The working language of the conference is English.
In co-operation with the:
Art Museum of Estonia – Niguliste Museum
Böckler-Mare-Balticum-Stiftung
Estonian Academy of Arts – Institute of Art History and Visual Culture
Tallinn University – Institute of History, Archaeology and Art History
Conference Programme Committee:
Professor Krista Kodres, Estonian Academy of Arts
Dr. Anu Mänd, Tallinn University
Merike Kurisoo, Art Museum of Estonia
Professor Gerhard Weilandt, Universität Greifswald
Dr. Janis Kreslins, National Library of Sweden
Conference Organisers:
Krista Kodres, Estonian Academy of Arts
Merike Kurisoo, Art Museum of Estonia
Anu Mänd, Tallinn University
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Thursday, 14 September
18.00 Opening words
Sirje Helme (Director General, Art Museum of Estonia)
Mart Kalm (Rector Professor, Estonian Academy of Arts)
Krista Kodres (Professor, Estonian Academy of Arts)
Keynote lecture
Andrew Spicer (Oxford Brookes University)
Adiaphora, Reformation and the Material Culture of Worship
Exhibition opening “Five Forgotten Paintings”
Friday, 15 September
9.15–9.30 Opening
Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts)
Guntis Kalme (Luther Academy, Latvia)
The artifact of art as an adiaphoron in the ecclesial space: theological principles of its usage
9.30–11.00
Gerhard Weilandt (University of Greifswald)
Destroy them! Reuse them? – How to deal with images of the old faith in the era of the Reformation in Northern Germany.
Anu Mänd (Tallinn University)
The Old and the New: Changes in the Tallinn Parish Churches from c. 1525 to c. 1550
11.00–11.30 Coffee break
11.30–13.00
Elina Räsanen (University of Helsinki)
Iconoclashes in Finland: Catholic Altarpieces in Transformation
Ulrike Nürnberger (Böckler-Mare-Balticum-Stiftung)
Modifying History – Remodelled Altarpieces in the Duchy of Schleswig
13.00–14.00 Lunch
14.00–15.30
Hanna Pirinen (University of Jyväskylä)
Donations as a Political and Religious Act
Marcin Wisłocki (University of Wroclaw)
Visualising a way to heaven. Remarks on emblematic programmes in Lutheran churches in Pomerania
15.30–16.00 Coffee break
16.00–17.30
Vija Strupule (Riga)
The role of interior paintings in the Lutheran church indoor concept: the Cathedral of Riga in the 16th–17th centuries.
Herman Bengtsson (Upplandsmuseet, Sweden)
Conflicting cults. Uppsala Cathedral and the Swedish Reformation 1527–1593
Saturday, 16 September
9.30–11.00
Merike Kurisoo (Art Museum of Estonia)
Indifferent things or not? Tallinn´s Church Order from 1606 and objects in ritual practices
Ojars Sparitis (Latvian Academy of Sciences)
The practice of the Confession and the evolution of Confessionals in the interior of Courlandian Lutheran churches
11.00–11.30 Coffee break
11.30–13.00
Martin Wangsgaard Jürgensen (National Museum of Denmark)
A meditation on the sinful man. Some thoughts on Lutheran devotional art illustrated through an example from 1586
Peter Gillgren (Stockholm University)
The Tomb of Christ: Representation and Spectacle
13.00–14.00 Lunch
14.00–14.45
Piotr Birecki (University of Wroclaw)
The Lutheran Church as a Space of Representation of Social Standing in Early Modern Ducal Prussia
14.45–15.00 Coffee break
15.00–16.00 Panel discussion
Information and contact:
https://nigulistemuuseum.ekm.ee
krista.kodres@artun.ee
merike.kurisoo@ekm.ee