Figura: Fiction, Illustration, Intermediality in Europe since the Early Modern

Fiction fundamentally associates text and images, both today and in the past: see graphic novels or manga based on European classics, or the vast production of illustrated books from the early modern to the 19th century or for example ancient tapestries depicting episodes from fictions. 

So illustration means as much a legacy as a prevalent practice in European culture, shaped by the circulation and transformation of models.

Figura could be the key term for texts and images relationship, used from ancient biblical exegesis to contemporary theories (see https://utpictura18.univ-amu.fr/rubriques/numeros/figures-images-figura-antique-aux-theories-contemporaine), as well as mentioned on the title page of printed books announcing, in different languages: book with figures, livre avec figures, libro con figure, Buch mit Figuren etc.

Figura is also the etymological basis for the word Fiction, as if the workings of fiction were to combine text and image, long before the word Intermediality existed.

The BIP Figura chooses the Hub theme of Society, Culture and Heritage for several reasons: 

• it directly concerns European cultural heritage as a common fund (particularly Mediterranean mythology), but also the circulation and intercultural updating of these references in a long diachronic perspective, since the early modern;
• the sciences involved (history, art history, interculturality) engage in a global epistemology, linked to an interdisciplinary approach to globalised culture;
• the BIP's pedagogical approach enables multicultural and multilingual communication and training: teaching and student work will be in English, but on subjects and works relating to different languages and cultures;
• Hub 5 "Digital and technological innovation" is involved as a secondary Hub but is very important: reflection on the design and use of digital tools and technological change plays a significant role due to the partners (Base amU/ Utpictura18, Stirling Maxwell Center and University of Glasgow Emblem websites;
• the BIP emphasises CIVIS values: interdisciplinarity is the heart of the programme. But it also promotes inclusivity by highlighting gender stereotypes through an intercultural approach (this issue will often be addressed but may be given specific focus in lectures and student working groups). Sustainability will be a concern for the summer school organisers, but will also feature in discussions on the ecological impact of digital technologies;
• the EEA framework is relevant in several ways: the integration of education into the European semester process, and the synergies between research and teaching.

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The BIP Figura will focus on several objectives: 

1. Define the illustrative relationship itself (through different arts, on different media, through various objects, in and outside books, with various partners and variable legitimacy). The vocabulary, across Europe, shows differences that are also semiotical mutations, from figure to illustrated book, to comic book and graphic novel. Objects and processes involve intermediality and transposition. 
2. Explore the European circulation of images and motifs, which constitutes already a visual culture in the early modern period but then becomes an visual universe, with cross-cultural feedback effects as with manga devoted to classic European fictions. 
3. Identify technical developments (woodcuts, copper engravings, etchings, lithographs, photographic prints, manual and machine print), linked to those of their uses and audiences. 
4. Confront different stakes of illustration, that seem hierarchical but involve parodic shifts: religious texts vs. secular fictions, scholarly images vs. popular ones, serious vs. playful contexts, adults vs. children’s literature. 
5. Test digital tools and reflect on the design of data bases and classification principles (iconclass for example).
6. Use didactically images for teaching or learning: these uses can be based on didactic traditions, but can also feed into pedagogical experimentation. 

Different learning outcomes will be achieved: 

• knowledge on the historical, technical and theoretical aspects of these topics;
• competence in describing media and works of art;
• communication skills as oral presentation in English and public performance, academic discussions with peers and scholars.

The 6 ECTS will be granted as following:

• 3 ECTS during virtual mobility: 2x6 hours of online sessions, with a lecture/ conference and a discussion with participants; additional preparatory work will be required between each session. Students will also choose the subject and prepare the presentation they will give in Aix (visual poster). 
• 3 ECTS during physical mobility in Aix: presentation of work/ poster through an oral performance for other participants; participation in activities and teaching during the 5 days.

5 days Summer School at Aix-en-Provence with a trip to Marseille (21-25 June 2027)

Day1: Monday, 21 June (4 hours)

In the morning, participants arrive in Aix-en-Provence, lunch at their own convenience and check-in at their hotel.

Between 14:00 - 18:00: meeting at amU/ Aix Schuman Campus/ Maison de la Recherche/

• Welcoming
• Introduction
• Opening session: BIP Partners and participants + Stéphane Lojkine (amU, CIELAM, Utpictura18): Vanishing Originals: from counterfeiting to fakes
• Student presentations/posters workshop 

Day2: Tuesday, 22 June (8 hours)

Conferences at Aix/ Campus Schuman: Images and Texts in Medial Turning Points. From Golden Ages to Post-Book Ages? (Sophie Picard (amU, Echanges) and Benoît Tane (amU, CIELAM) org.

Provisional programme (09:00 - 18:00):

• Ruth Menzies (amU, LERMA): Gulliver's travels through intermediality
• Sophie Picard (amU): Iconizing literature. Figuration of literature in popular culture
• +BIP Partners and participants

Lunch and dinner will be taken together.

Day3: Wednesday, 23 June (8 hours)

Visits and activities in 2 cultural institutions, Aix city center

• 09:00 - 13:00: Don Quichotte - Figures in the Tapestry (Tapestry Museum, Aix)
• 14:00 - 18:00: Images in Books? (Méjanes Library, Aix)
• + free time in Aix-en-Provence city center.

Day4: Thursday, 24 June 24 (8 hours)

9:00 - 18:00: Trip to Marseille, visits and activities at Mucem (Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée) 

• travel to Marseille
• visit of the planned Temporary Exhibition Images à l’envers/ Images Upside down with the curator, M.-Ch. Calafat
• discussion with BIP partners and participants (MucemLab)
• + free time until the evening in Marseille city center

Day5: Friday, 25 June (4 hours)

9:00 - 13:00: Closing session

• conclusions
• feedback from participants

Main learning activities: 

• workshop on presentations/ posters, complementing the preparatory work begun during the online sessions. It provides to the students the opportunity to give an oral presentation and to benefit from feedback from participants in order to improve their skills;
• conferences: these presentations by specialists (partners and other invited colleagues) provide students with interdisciplinary knowledge. Interactions enable them to learn academic approaches;
• meetings with professionals during visits to institutions provide concrete experience of these cultural professions.

Planned synchronous activities:

Virtual component consists of 6x3h sessions, each prepared by a partner. Students meet collectively if possible, under the direction of the partner and of the coordinator. If this activity can not be synchronous, students may access to recorded sessions.

• 6 April - Benoît Tane, Aix-Marseille Université: Launching session The illustrative relationship: the 18th century Fiction as a Model 
• 13 April - Romana Sammern, U. Salzburg: How Images Produce Knowledge - Illustration as an Epistemic Practice
• 4 May - Laurence Grove, U. of Glasgow: The Emblematic Mentality. Or how text/ image forms evolve across the centuries (from emblems, to comics, to memes)
• 11 May - Dorothee Kimmich, Tübingen U: Literary and cultural Studies, Cultural Theories
• 18 May - Jaqueline Berndt, U. Stockholm: Early modern Japanese graphic narratves, seen from the perspective of modern comics in East Asia and Europe
• 1 June - Marie Kondrat, UNIL: The Out of field

+ planned asynchronous activities: after the online sessions and the selection of one of the topics within a working group (5 students), each student will complete the necessary readings and research, write the case study they have chosen and prepare a visual poster/ portfolio planned for the Summer School in Aix (see "Physical Part").

Student will discuss this work with the working group during this phase.

The assessment will consist of two phases and two marks. 

• after the online sessions and the selection of a topic within a working group (5 students), each student will complete the necessary reading and research, write the case study and prepare a visual poster/ portfolio. Students will discuss their work with their working group during this phase. The 12 hours of classes, additional readings and this preparation account for 75 hours of student work.
• during the meeting in Aix, the presentation itself and the discussion with peers will be a second specific steps of the assessment. This method is appropriate for the objectives: academic knowledge, identification and description of works of art, communication skills (oral, use of visual aids, exchange). 

The supervising teachers will provide feedback at these two stages, by email or video exchange before the meeting, and in person in Aix during a debriefing.

Motivation Letter

Level of english (According to CEFR)

CV

Participants will be selected by a committee made up by partners, who will take the following points into consideration:

• B2 level in English;
• motivation, interest, research topic, professional plans, e.g. related to interculturality, intermediality, text-image issues, image and literature;
• prior coursework in discipline areas linked to the BIP (Humanities, Art History, Visuals studies, Cultural studies, Intermediality, Interculturality, Literature, Comparative Literature, Languages...);
• applicants may highlight any particular skills they possess and want to link with the programme (technic, artistic, linguistic...).

Some of the BIP Partners and guests:

• Pr. Jaqueline Berndt, Professor in Japanese Language and Culture, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern studies, Stockholm U.
• Marie-Charlotte Calafat, Chief Curator, Head of collections, Mucem/ Marseille
• Pr. Laurence Grove, Professor of French and Text/ Image Studies, Stirling Maxwell Centre for the Study of Text/image Cultures, U. of Glasgow​
• Pr. Dr. Dorothee Kimmich, Professor of Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Cultural Theory, Faculty of Philosophy, U. Tübingen
• Stéphane Lojkine, Professor of French 18th century Literature, amU
• Ruth Menzies, Senior Lecturer, DEMA, amU
• Sophie Picard, Senior Lecturer, Germanic Studies, amU
• Prof. Dr. Romana Sammern, Research Fellow, department of Art History, Salzburg U.
• Benoît Tane, Senior Lecturer, Comparative Literature, amU

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe.

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