Adjunct Assistant Professor Vito Adriaensens invites you to the international conference The Tableau Vivant - Across Media, History, and Culture.

The phenomenon of the tableau vivant is anchored in Ancient Greek mythology and mime traditions and came into being as a liturgical and ceremonial event in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, first flourishing in the late medieval and early Renaissance period before seeing a resurgence in nineteenth-century performance culture after Emma, Lady Hamilton’s famous parlor attitudes inspired a notable passage in Goethe’s 1808 Wahlverwandtschaften [Elective Affinities]. Tableaux vivants were synonymous with living paintings, statues vivants, living pictures, living statues, Grecian statues, poses plastiques, attitudes, and lebende bilder, to name but a few.

The conference is organized by the Columbia University MA in Film and Media studies with the generous support of Columbia University's School of the Arts, Columbia University's Deutsches Haus, The Department of Theatre at Barnard College, the Heyman Center for the Humanities, and the General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the U.S.

Thursday, November 30

Faculty House // 7:30 - 9:30pm​

Friday, December 1

Deutsches Haus at Columbia University (420 West 116th St.) // 9:00am 7:30pm​

Saturday, December 2

Room 511, Dodge Hall // 9:00am - 6:00pm​

Keynote Speakers:
Brigitte Peucker, Yale University
Birgit Jooss, documenta Archive
Martin Meisel, Columbia University

Full schedule here.