Mizzou School of Visual Studies art history PhD candidate, Marta Waters, was invited to participate in an international graduate seminar, Nov. 23-24, 2023, titled “Aggregates: Phenomenologies of Water” in association with Kunsthistorisches Institut, Christian-Albrechts-Universität (Institute of Art History, Kiel University) in Kiel, Germany.

The focus of the seminar was water. Each participant shared current research that related to this broad topic and spent time exploring each other’s work. Keynote lectures were given by one of the organizers. At an undetermined time in March, the same group will convene virtually to talk about progress on the projects, post-seminar.

Waters says, "I have always been interested in water, but I fit in with the seminar specifically because one of the chapters of my dissertation focuses on a nautilus cup! The case study deals with the physical and metaphoric properties of water, as well as general attributes of water, like fluidity, as reflected in the nautilus cup and its associated contexts. My dissertation as a whole covers 4 case studies, each focused on a hybrid object that represents a real or mythical animal body. It considers early modern people’s critical perceptions and definitions of non-human bodies with the objective of learning more about the impetus to produce hybrid animal objects, like the nautilus cup."