On the Edge: Medieval Margins and the Margins of Academic Life

Symposium: May 9, 2012, at the Special Collections Research Center. Lucy Freeman Sandler, Professor of Art History Emerita, New York University, will be the keynote speaker for the symposium. Her talk will take place from noon to 1pm.

Exhibit: Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery, May 19 – August 10, 2012.

Honoring the twentieth anniversary of Michael Camille’s Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art, the On the Edgeexhibit will pair marginalia in illuminated manuscripts with photographs of life at the University of Chicago.  Camille’s groundbreaking work brought light to the confluence of the serious and the playful, the sacred and the profane in medieval manuscripts and architecture. The serious and the playful also converge at the university.  University life is defined not only by cutting edge research, but also by superstitions, protests, scavenger hunts, streakers in sneakers, social groups, and dance marathons. The On the Edge exhibit and symposium will explore the symmetry between the margins of academic life and medieval margins.