The Modern Greek Program at the University of Michigan presents the
6th Annual Platsis Symposium on the Greek Legacy

ICONOCLASM: The War on Images

Sunday, September 23, 2007
2 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Rackham Amphitheatre, 4th floor
915 E. Washington
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(click here for map)

Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of a culture’s own religious icons, monuments, and symbols. It is a common element of radical (conservative or progressive) religious and political change as it attacks the visual character of a dominant system.

In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam iconoclasm is based on the Mosaic prohibition against “graven images,” which were rejected as idolatry.  Within Judaism, it has been identified in art from ancient synagogues to modern painting.  In Islam, it has been traced from the 7th century to contemporary debates.  Within Christianity, the greatest conflicts remain those of the 8th-9th centuries in the Eastern Church, and the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century in the Western Church.  All three monotheistic iconoclasms have been contrasted with the iconophilic Greek culture which placed no restrictions on the representation of deity.

This symposium will explore the religious and cultural authority of images with an emphasis on medieval and modern iconoclasms.

2 p.m. – Presentation   
Artist Michael R. Kapetan
“Faith and Image: Creating Sacred Art Today”

3:30 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. – Lectures
Historian John Haldon, Princeton:
“Iconoclasm in the Byzantine World - Myths and Realities”
Art Historian Charles Barber, Notre Dame:
Eikonomachia: The Afterlife of the ‘Iconoclastic Controversy’ in Byzantium”

Reception to follow

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Supported by the Arthur and Mary Platsis Fund and the Modern Greek Program