The Pursuit of Heights: Romanesque Architecture, Aquitanian Notation, and the Office of Sainte-Foy at Conques

Lecture by Dr. Bissera Pentcheva (Stanford)

Wednesday, Sept. 30 – 6:15 p.m. PDT | 9:15 p.m. EDT
Free admission | Online via Zoom

We're excited to host Dr. Bissera Pentcheva (Stanford) in our 5th Public Lecture and Concert Series! Sign up here.

You may already know of Dr. Pentcheva's work because of her famous balloon pop which resulted in a digital sound filter to recreate the acoustics of Hagia Sophia in her work with Cappella Romana.

Lecture description:
With rare exceptions, medieval art is predominantly studied as a visual medium and explored through texts even though its material images were originally designed to be experienced in the temporal flow of sound as chant, recitation, and prayer. Pentcheva’s forthcoming book Seeing through Chant: Art and Music at Sainte-Foy in Conques (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2027) explores this interaction across media. In this presentation, she will trace the manifestation of the pursuit of heights in the architecture, sculpture, and music. She will argue that audiovision (describing the phenomenon of simultaneous seeing and hearing) activates a series of images in the imagination of the participants which layer over the architectural space and the material objects. These “icons of sound” lack material density and invite us to consider the role of chant in shaping the experience of the metaphysical aniconically.