
- This event has passed.
Andrew Finegold presents at the Columbia University AAOA Seminar
October 1, 2015 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON THE ARTS OF AFRICA, OCEANIA, AND THE AMERICAS
Andrew Finegold
2015-2016 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Fine Arts – NYU
Perforated Pots: Revitalizing the Discourse Surrounding “Kill Holes” in Classic Maya Ceramics
The presence of holes drilled through the bottoms of some Classic Maya ceramics has long been noted. Mentioned only in passing in the literature, most scholars have discussed these perforations as being indicative of “termination events” whereby vessels are ritually “killed” and their life force is released. Rather than an act of decommissioning, I will argue that the drilling of vessels served to actuate these objects as non-utilitarian artworks. The congruence of some holes with the imagery painted on the vessels suggests that this diachronic transformation was considered a possibility at the time of their creation, and that these apertures, as sites of fecund potentiality, were often associated with progenerative forces at odds with the term “kill hole.”
6:30 pm
930 Schermerhorn Hall
MADE POSSIBLE BY A GENEROUS GIFT FROM A MEMBER OF THE SEMINAR