In our digital age, memory is both permanent and fleeting: forever enshrined on the internet, and yet easily forgotten amid the endless scroll of new information. In the Middle Ages, however, memory was more consciously articulated by medieval makers, patrons and viewers, and was appropriated to serve carefully crafted political, devotional and cultural agendas. Far from being passive repositories of remembrance, medieval artworks, buildings and objects played active roles in constructing, shaping and transmitting memory, whether personal, collective or institutional. This colloquium will explore the complex and dynamic relationship between memory and the material culture of the Middle Ages. It will consider how images from medieval Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic world engaged with the processes of remembering and forgetting, and how they mediated the relationship between the past and the present.
The colloquium will take place on Friday 6th March 2026 at the Courtauld Institute’s Vernon Square campus. The colloquium will be concluded with a drinks reception open to all ticket holders.
Organised by Courtauld PhD students Sophia Dumoulin, Leylim Erenel, Ricardo Mandelbaum Balla. This colloquium is generously supported by Sam Fogg.
