Submitted by sp2146 on Fri, 27/02/2026 - 14:40
This spring, the UK’s largest art history conference is coming to Cambridge’s Department of History of Art for the first time.
The University is hosting the Association for Art History's annual forum, a prestigious event that’s also one of the largest of its kind in the world. The three-day gathering is set to be even more extensive than usual this year due to an unprecedented response to the call for papers.
The conference brings together international research and critical debate about art history and visual culture. It’s an important event that allows the art history community to keep up to date with new research, hear leading keynotes, broaden networks, and exchange ideas.
“Hosting this conference reflects the kind of excitement and intellectual opportunities there are for studying and talking about the history of art at Cambridge,” said Professor Alexander Marr, Head of the Department of History of Art. “We’re a dynamic academic centre and this is an opportunity for us to showcase the department, our collaborations with the museums, and the wider Cambridge intellectual and cultural ecosystem.”
The conference will welcome hundreds of delegates to Churchill College, Murray Edwards College and the Møller Institute, with Churchill as the conference hub.
“We are delighted that the University of Cambridge is hosting the Association for Art History’s Annual Conference,” said Gregory Perry, CEO Association for Art History.
“The response to the event has been unprecedented and will be the largest gathering of UK and international scholars and curators in our history.
“It is our pleasure to be working with generous and supportive colleagues in the University’s History of Art Department, and we are grateful to the team of Cambridge students who will be assisting over the three days of the event. Having the conference in Cambridge has clearly inspired great interest and we are very much looking forward to welcoming delegates to the university and the city.”
Many Cambridge history of art colleagues will chair sessions and speak, and locations including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Kettle's Yard, and the Women's Art Collection will host events. The keynote speakers are Independent Design Historian Tanya Harrod, Susie Nash of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and Chika Okeke-Agulu from Princeton University.
"The Association for Art History annual conference is a fantastic point in the year, when we get to share ideas and see the vitality and diversity of our discipline across education at all levels, and the broader cultural sector,” said Professor Amy Tobin from the Department of History of Art.
Tobin is co-hosting a workshop on the Wednesday titled 'Archiving Precarious Histories of Art' that in part celebrates the launch of the Feminist Art Making Histories oral history archive, which was the outcome of an Arts and Humanities Research Council-Irish Research Council (AHRC-IRC) Digital Humanities Networking grant.
Dr Peyvand Firouzeh, who is one of the new academics set to teach the department’s new MPhil in the Global History of Art and Architecture, will speak about the real and imagined migrations of sea coconuts, which are native to the islands of Seychelles. She will explore how the biological particularities of the sea coconut, as well as the perceived knowledge about the origin and efficacies of this natural material in the early modern era, prompted its adoption for the making of elaborate drinking vessels and begging bowls, or the imitation of its form in other media.
“There are many people coming to speak on an incredible array of subjects,” said Marr. “This shows that Cambridge has much to offer not only in terms of research and education, but also in terms of the historic architecture and museum collections.”
“At Cambridge, we welcome colleagues to a university and a city where excellent collections meet innovative research," said Tobin.
Find more details about the conference and a link to register.
The Association for Art History is a London-based subject association, membership body and charity operating since 1974. Their vision is “a world in which art history thrives and through it we gain a deeper understanding of art and human culture.”