Circular Thinking: The Drawing Compass as a Tool of Creation in Premodern Europe
10 & 11 June, 5:30–7pm BST (online)
Circular Thinking is an online lecture, short papers and panel discussion devoted to the drawing compass, an essential tool of premodern makers that came to represent divine Creation. Although now associated primarily with architecture, the compass was a transmedial instrument, integral to a range of artisanal operations. Through conversation and the close study of historical evidence, ‘Circular Thinking’ seeks to impart a more precise understanding of the compass’s varied uses — in measurement, scaling, copying and the generation of diverse shapes in two and three dimensions — and, with this, its symbolic force. The event is free and open to the public, but booking is required. Details and booking here: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/event/24358
LECTURE, Thursday, 10 June, 5:30–7pm BST (online)
Professor Robert Bork, University of Iowa
Circles Below the Surface: The Role of the Compass in Premodern Creativity
PAPERS & PANEL DISCUSSION, Friday, 11 June, 5:30–7:00pm BST (online)
Speakers
Dr. Sarah Griffin, Winchester College
Constructing the Calendars in the Diagrams of Opicinus de Canistris (1296-c. 1352)
Professor Jean-Marie Guillouët, University of Burgundy, Dijon
Testimony of Construction Practices in Some Late Medieval Compass Traceries
Dr. Stephen Johnston, History of Science Museum, University of Oxford
Drawing and the Design Process in Mathew Baker’s Fragments of Ancient English Shipwrightry
Professor Robert Bork will join the group for discussion and Q&A
Moderator
Dr. Megan C. McNamee, University of Edinburgh
CIrcular Thinking is made possible through generous support from the Warburg Institute and the Leverhulme Trust.
