Archaeology of Art. From Caves to Galleries: The Evolution of Visual Expression

  • Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław
  • Institute of Art History, University of Wrocław
  • Wrocław Contemporary Museum

Date: 24–25 September 2026

Venue: University Library in Wrocław

Address: Fryderyka Joliot-Curie 12, 50-383 Wrocław, Poland

The Organisers cordially invite you to participate in an international academic conference devoted to reflection on visuality, aesthetics, and forms of cultural expression in prehistory.

The conference will be dedicated to prehistoric art—one of the earliest forms of human expression—understood as visual creativity that developed prior to the emergence of traditional writing systems. The core focus of the conference will include issues related to prehistoric artistic production, its aesthetic and symbolic values, ritual and communicative functions, as well as its social, cultural, and environmental contexts.

The topics addressed in the presentations and discussions will concern the boundaries of the concept of “art” when applied to prehistoric communities, the relationship between function and form, and the influence of contemporary interpretative approaches on the reading of ancient visual creativity.

The meeting aims to create a space for reflection on the current significance of prehistoric art in the context of contemporary research, artistic practices, and visual culture, as well as to revitalise discussion of prehistoric art as an inspiring source for reflections on the origins of human imagination and the need to create images. For this reason, a prominent place in the conference programme will be devoted to issues related to contemporary modes of representing and popularising prehistoric art—both within academic and educational discourse and in museum practice, as well as in fields such as graphic design, architecture, photography, and film.

The conference is dedicated to the memory of the distinguished Wrocław archaeologist Professor Bogusław Gediga (1933–2022), whose scholarly passion was prehistoric art. Professor Gediga conducted his research at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław and also served as Head of the Department of Prehistoric and Early Mediaeval Art History at the Institute of Art History, University of Wrocław.

We invite participants from a wide range of academic disciplines, in particular archaeologists and scholars of art and culture, as well as artists and designers for whom prehistoric visual heritage is a source of inspiration or an object of reinterpretation. The event is addressed to researchers, PhD candidates, students, museum and cultural institution professionals, and all those interested in the earliest manifestations of human imagination.

The meeting will be held in a hybrid format and streamed online. Selected papers and plenary lectures will be made available on the event website. The best presentations by students and PhD candidates, as well as posters, will be recognised with awards. Publication of selected contributions as peer-reviewed research articles in the renowned journal Przegląd Archeologiczny, published by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, is planned.

Scientific conference financed from the state budget under the programme of the Minister of Science and Higher Education called Vectors of Science, project number WNK/SP/0352/2025/01; task title: The Archaeology of Art: From Caves to Galleries—The Evolution of Visual Expression; date of contract signing: 30 October 2025; project financing amount: PLN 62,050.00; total project value: PLN 78,050.00.