Deadline of Application: August 30, 2020

ICDAD is announcing grants of the amount of 500 and 1,000 euros for 2020 and 2021. All individual and institutional members of ICDAD are welcome to apply. Collaborations with ICOM national or regional groups, with other ICOM international committees, or other partners are allowed and encouraged.

The proposed projects should fit into the following categories of activity:

• conferences, trainings and meetings
• publications and research activities
• activities for young members
• actions encouraging exchange with emerging countries
• cooperation with other ICOM committees and/or Regional Alliances

Please download the application form here (as Word document or PDF document).

The ICDAD conference and annual meeting originally planned for October 2020 in Lisbon has been postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The theme for the 2021 conference will remain the same—"Revivals"—and all papers submitted to the original Call for Papers will be considered for inclusion. The CFP will be renewed in 2021 as well, and the board welcomes additional proposals at that time.

The entire ICDAD board is disappointed to have to postpone the meeting in Lisbon, but the wellbeing and safety of members must be the priority. In place of the meeting in Lisbon, ICDAD will host a virtual conference this fall, with a theme and CFP forthcoming.

Due to the pandemic situation, the ICDAD board decided to postpone the deadline of the annual call for conference papers to June 30, 2020.

As this is a rapidly-evolving situation, it is not possible to provide advice about travel in the near future. Also, we do not know what the financial situation in the museums will be after shorter or longer periods of closedown. For the moment we have decided to go on planning the conference in Lisbon on October 14-16, 2020. Therefore, we encourage you to participate in the round of call for papers and would like to inform you that alternatives are considered currently for the conference timing and format. You will be informed by the end of May about all possible changes in the plans.

Stay safe!

The 2021 Annual Conference and General Assembly of ICOM International Committee for Museums and Collections of Decorative Arts and Design will take place at the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon, Portugal (plus two days for the post conference tour to Coimbra and Porto).

• Call for Papers (before postponement to 2021)

ICDAD 2024 Annual Conference

Dwelling, Design, and the Decorative Arts
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, United States
Conference: November 19-21, 2024
Post-conference tour: November 22-23, 2024

REGISTER HERE

A bedroom in Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home, Peabody Essex Museum. Photo by Dennis Helmar. Parlor of the Ropes Mansion. © 2015 Peabody Essex Museum. Photography by Kathy Tarantola. 

The Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts, is the oldest continually operating museum in the United States, founded in 1799. And so it is fitting that it is also the first museum to install period rooms within its galleries as well as being an early leader in the preservation of historic houses. This commitment to “rooms” reflects a longstanding preoccupation with the domestic sphere in the world of decorative arts and design. Many of the decorative objects found in museums today were originally made for use in the home and by families, and so their interpretation and study must grapple with the domestic in a myriad of ways. 

How do domestic objects reflect the values and mores of their time? How do they declare or hide their production histories? How do homes function as constructed spaces, and how do museums reconstruct them or, as is sometimes the case, create imagined interiors? Questions around gender, comfort, emotion, taste, function, politics, nationhood, technology are just a few of the topics that emerge when considering the decorative arts of the home. 

This conference explores domesticity and the home through decorative arts and design, and we invite papers that interpret all these terms (domestic, home, decorative arts, design) from a broad perspective. The town of Salem and the Peabody Essex Museum itself have numerous homes dating from the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries; however, this conference also welcomes papers that explore the domestic sphere both before and after the heyday of Salem’s historic architecture. In addition, explorations of non-traditional domestic spaces and their objects (ships, trains, institutional homes) are equally welcome, as we are interested in the “production of home” through objects in unexpected places. 

Why Salem?  

Salem is a historic New England city that served as a hub of cultural exchange at the crossroads of the early Atlantic World. An international port city, Salem was an eighteenth and nineteenth century center for global trade, art, furniture making and architecture. Today it is home to a density of historic houses and examples of architecture from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, including Yin Yu Tang, a reconstructed and relocated nineteenth century multigenerational merchant’s home from the Huizhou region of China. Salem is perhaps most famous for the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and the city continues to explore and engage with this troubling yet compelling history. Its location on the North Shore of Massachusetts makes it a site of rich maritime history, and the city’s harbor provides both a dramatic backdrop to the workings of this contemporary community and an important and ongoing area of historic research.  

While Salem will serve as our home base for the conference, we will also explore sites of historic and contemporary decorative arts and design throughout the region. The post conference tour will take participants farther afield into broader New England. For attendees coming from outside the United States, this conference represents a unique opportunity to engage with Boston and New England’s rich museum resources. Its location along the Eastern seaboard also makes it convenient for further travel to major cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM 

CONFERENCE PROGRAM DOWNLOAD

Post Conference Excursion November 22-23
 

A post-conference overnight tour to museums and galleries in Western Massachusetts will take place Friday and Saturday, November 22-23, 2024

• Visits will include museums historic sites, contemporary art and craft galleries, and active artist studios. Limit 25 participants, first come first served.
  
  Post-Conference Program
  Post-Conference Registration

Registration

Please note that there’s a limit of 50 participants for the conference. Registration will close when the conference reaches capacity. REGISTER HERE

The fee for participating in the conference (November 19-21) is $250 USD, payment details will come following registration. 

Membership Requirements

Please note that all participants must be individual members or representatives of institutional members of ICDAD at the time of the conference. Spouses and other interested ICOM members will be welcome if space permits. Find more information about how to become a member of ICOM and ICDAD here: https://icom.museum/en/get-involved/

If you are already a member of ICOM, please log in to the IRIS memberspace and choose ICDAD as your primary International Committee: https://icom-museum.force.com/login

For questions on the conference: ICDAD_Salem_2024@pem.org

For any questions on ICDAD membership: secretary.icdad@icom.museum

Call for Papers

ICDAD 2024 Annual Conference Call for Papers: Dwelling, Design, and the Decorative Arts

Dwelling, Design, and the Decorative Arts
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, United States
Conference: November 19-21, 2024
Post-conference tour: November 22-23, 2024

Deadline extented: CFP closes August 10!

The Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts, is the oldest continually operating museum in the United States, founded in 1799. And so it is fitting that it is also the first museum to install period rooms within its galleries as well as being an early leader in the preservation of historic houses. This commitment to “rooms” reflects a longstanding preoccupation with the domestic sphere in the world of decorative arts and design. Many of the decorative objects found in museums today were originally made for use in the home and by families, and so their interpretation and study must grapple with the domestic in a myriad of ways. 
How do domestic objects reflect the values and mores of their time? How do they declare or hide their production histories? How do homes function as constructed spaces, and how do museums reconstruct them or, as is sometimes the case, create imagined interiors? Questions around gender, comfort, emotion, taste, function, politics, nationhood, technology are just a few of the topics that emerge when considering the decorative arts of the home. 

This conference explores domesticity and the home through decorative arts and design, and we invite papers that interpret all these terms (domestic, home, decorative arts, design) from a broad perspective. The town of Salem and the Peabody Essex Museum itself have numerous homes dating from the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries; however, this conference also welcomes papers that explore the domestic sphere both before and after the heyday of Salem’s historic architecture. In addition, explorations of non-traditional domestic spaces and their objects (ships, trains, institutional homes) are equally welcome, as we are interested in the “production of home” through objects in unexpected places. 

Why Salem? 

Salem is a historic New England city that served as a hub of cultural exchange at the crossroads of the early Atlantic World. An international port city, Salem was an eighteenth and nineteenth century center for global trade, art, furniture making and architecture. Today it is home to a density of historic houses and examples of architecture from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, including Yin Yu Tang, a reconstructed and relocated nineteenth century multigenerational merchant’s home from the Huizhou region of China. Salem is perhaps most famous for the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and the city continues to explore and engage with this troubling yet compelling history. Its location on the North Shore of Massachusetts makes it a site of rich maritime history, and the city’s harbor provides both a dramatic backdrop to the workings of this contemporary community and an important and ongoing area of historic research.  

While Salem will serve as our home base for the conference, we will also explore sites of historic and contemporary decorative arts and design throughout the region. The post conference tour will take participants farther afield into broader New England. For attendees coming from outside the United States, this conference represents a unique opportunity to engage with Boston and New England’s rich museum resources. Its location along the Eastern seaboard also makes it convenient for further travel to major cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

How do I apply?

Send an abstract of 250–300 words and a short CV to ICDAD_Salem_2024@pem.org by July 30. Applicants will be informed of results by August 26. 

Proposals must be written in English, and participants will also be expected to give their presentations in English.

Presentations should be 15 minutes in length and include a visual presentation component (Powerpoint, Google Slides, etc.). Results of the conference may be published, and participants will have the opportunity to participate in the publication should that occur.

Presenters will be expected to cover their own registration and travel expenses.Travel grants for junior ICOM members (under 40 years old) will be available. Information will follow for those applications. 

Please note: ICDAD welcomes abstracts from museum professionals worldwide, members and non-members. However, all participants must be individual members (voting or non-voting) or representatives of institutional members of ICOM and ICDAD at the time of the conference. Please check with your national committee of ICOM beforehand if you are eligible for membership.

Find more information about how to become a member of ICOM and ICDAD here: https://icom.museum/en/get-involved/. 

If you are already a member of ICOM, please log in to the IRIS memberspace and choose ICDAD as your primary International Committee: https://icom-museum.force.com/login

Conference Archive

• 2024 Salem, USA
• 2023 Lisbon, Portugal
• 2022 Prague, Czech Republic (together with COSTUME and GLASS)
• 2021 Online "Revivals"
• 2020 Online "Hidden Gems"
• 2019 Kyoto, Japan (together with ICFA and GLASS)
• 2018 Baku, Azerbaijan (together with DEMHIST)
• 2017 Miami, USA
• 2016 Milan, Italy
• 2015 Krakow and Warsaw, Poland
• 2014 Graz, Austria and Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 2013 Zurich, Switzerland
• 2011 Istanbul, Turkey
• 2010 Shanghai, China (together with DEMHIST, GLASS and ICFA)
• 2010 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• 2009 Hannover, Germany
• 2008 Zagreb, Croatia
• 2007 Vienna, Austria
• 2006 Helsinki, Finland, Tallinn, Estland and Riga, Latvia
• 2005 Oslo, Norway
• 2004 Berlin, Germany
• 2003 Genoa, Italy
• 2002 Stockholm, Sweden
• 2001 Barcelona, Spain
• 2000 New York, USA
• 1999 London, UK
• 1998 Lisbon and Porto, Portugal
• 1997 Prague, Czech Republic
• 1996 Geneva, Switzerland and Lyon, France
• 1995 Florence, Italy
• 1994 Vienna, Austria
• 1993 Berlin, Germany
• 1992 Warsaw, Poland