2.12.2019
17:15-18:45
Lecture room D113, Topelia (Unioninkatu 38, 00101 Helsinki)
Ville Hakanen (University of Helsinki): Erotic Art and the Ancient Experience
Is identification in a picture up to the viewer’s individual characteristics and the mood of the moment? Or can it be argued to follow a predetermined pattern? These are no simple questions in the world, where one’s unique personality is represented through Instagram, the algorithms of which can predict the pictures we are going to like based on other profiles like ours. By asking these questions in the ancient context, regarding erotic images, this presentation offers a refreshing perspective to the complex relationship between identity and image. I begin by drawing a picture of the ancient conception of self and its relationship to gender, which leads to ancient understandings of perception and cognition, and to ancient theories about image and identification. I discuss all this in a responsive dialogue with contemporary gender studies, particularly by Judith Butler. The outcome is a theoretically rounded picture of an ancient viewer in front of an erotic mythological picture.
Anna-Maria Wilskman (University of Helsinki): By Silver and Stone: Some Notions of the Visibility and Movement of Roman Minor Magistrates
The aim of this work-in-progress presentation is to illustrate the movement and visibility of Roman magistrates through epigraphic and numismatic sources. The source material about the higher magistrates is vast, and therefore my method is to limit the material to those who are mentioned as having served in a minor office. By this approach, I hope to demonstrate the modes of representations of the magistrates and their career development in the early Imperial Era.