Papers are sought for Supplementum 2016 of the journal Convivium. Exchanges and Interactions in the Arts of Medieval Europe, Byzantium, and the Mediterranean. The theme is The South Caucasus.

The canon of medieval and Byzantine art and architecture, as currently shaped by a Euro-American art history, only rarely incorporates any of the rich artistic achievements of the South Caucasus. While church architecture and book illumination of medieval Armenia have attracted some scholarly attention, the monuments of Georgia, not to mention those of former early Christian Albania (now in the Republic of Azerbaidjan), remain obscure to even specialists in the field. As a whole, the South Caucasus continues to be entirely peripheral to the Euro-American discourse, and when included, the region is typically relegated to the status of a provincial off-shoot of the Byzantine Empire. The purpose of the present volume is to call attention to the medieval art and architecture of the South Caucasus which has for too long remained inaccessible, skewed by patriotic and racial approaches and, over the last two centuries, perceived and interpreted as part of the Russian and Soviet Empires. While addressing these historiographical issues, we want to propose the South Caucasus, not as a periphery, but as a region in its own right that is worthy of a central place in the current discourse. Whereas in recent years the study of Mediterranean culture has become a leading trend within medieval art history due to an increased interest in travel, transfer, and cultural and artistic encounters across borders and religious traditions, few are aware that, as a historical buffer zone between Europe and Asia, connecting those continents through the Black Sea and the Silk Road, Southern Caucasia is well appointed to offer new materials and directions to such on-going explorations. In contrast to Carl Schnaase , who in his Geschichte der bildenen Künste im Mittelalter (1843–61) found the continuous oppression of the South Caucasus by foreign powers incompatible with the creation of a proper artistic culture, it could be precisely this multi-colored history - blending Christian with Sassanid, Islamic and Mongolian traditions - that makes the region a promising area for research within a globalized art history.

We welcome papers on topics that may concentrate on but be not limited to:

• Historiography (i.e. the discovery of the region by early European travelers; the impact of patriotism and politics; the western/Byzantine perspective: center versus periphery; the Russian perspective).
• Specific case studies of Albanian, Armenian or Georgian monuments (architecture, manuscripts, icons, monumental decorations, etc) with attention to historiography and recent methodologies.
• South Caucasus and medieval art history today (i.e. multiculturalism; cultural transfer, travel, and object exchange; canon and chronology; center versus periphery; South Caucasus as a region in relation to Asia, Europe and Russia).

The theme issue The South Caucasus will be edited and curated by Ivan Foletti (editor in chief of Convivium), Ass. prof. from the University of Brno and Maître Assistant of the University of Lausanne, and Prof. Erik Thunø from Rutgers University.