HomeFrom the Romanesque Monument to the Digital Medium: Knowledge Production, Cross-Border Mediation, and Heritage Reconfigurations

From the Romanesque Monument to the Digital Medium: Knowledge Production, Cross-Border Mediation, and Heritage Reconfigurations

Du monument au média numérique : productions des savoirs, médiations transfrontalières et reconfigurations patrimoniales

Del monumento románico al medio digital: producción de saberes, mediaciones transfronterizas y reconfiguraciones patrimoniales

Del monument romànic al mitjà digital: producció de coneixement, mediacions transfrontereres i reconfiguracions patrimonials

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Published on Thursday, March 05, 2026

Abstract

Le colloque, organisé à l’université Perpignan Via Domitia vise à questionner les reconfigurations contemporaines des savoirs, des récits patrimoniaux et des publics. Il croise histoire de l’art, archéologie, muséologie et sciences de l’information et de la communication. Trois axes structurent la réflexion : apports scientifiques des technologies numériques, enjeux critiques des musées numériques et médiation culturelle, usages des publics et valorisation territoriale.

Announcement

Rationale

For the past three decades (Deloche, 2001), the development of digital technologies has profoundly transformed research practices, mediation processes, and heritage-making in the fields of art history and archaeology, as well as the institutional and communicational frameworks of cultural heritage (Baujard & Houdy, 2013). The digitization of corpora, enriched iconographic databases, 3D reconstructions of lost or altered buildings, immersive devices, virtual tour platforms, and interactive and transmedia narratives have durably reshaped modes of access to artworks, monuments, and scholarly knowledge (Andreacola, 2014). These transformations—widely analyzed in museology and information and communication sciences—take on particular significance in the field of Romanesque art, whose buildings are often geographically isolated, weakly mediated, and marginalized within traditional cultural circuits.

Alongside these evolving practices, digital museums have emerged, whether autonomous, hybrid, or affiliated with existing museum institutions or tourism structures (Schmitt & Meyer-Chemenska, 2015). However, despite their technical sophistication and increasing visibility—accentuated in particular by the post-Covid context and by policy-driven calls for innovation and funding mechanisms—digital museums continue to suffer from fragile and ambivalent institutional, scientific, and heritage recognition (Appiotti & Sandri, 2017). Are they museums in their own right, mediation devices, enriched visual archives, or transitional forms of heritage-making? This uncertainty of status calls into question classical definitions of the museum, legal and professional frameworks, and the analytical categories mobilized by the humanities and social sciences.

Within this context, the conference aims to analyze digital devices devoted to Romanesque art as fully-fledged socio-technical and communicational objects, belonging to what information and communication sciences define as computerized media (Tardy & Jeanneret, 2007), carrying narratives, symbolic values, and interpretative choices. The goal is to examine the promises, limits, and stakes of these devices, both in terms of the production of scholarly knowledge and its mediation to audiences, by crossing perspectives from art history, archaeology, museology, and information and communication sciences.

This reflection is also part of a broader epistemological inquiry into the very notion of “Romanesque art.” Coined at the beginning of the 19th century by Charles de Gerville in a context marked by the emergence of art history and medieval archaeology as scientific disciplines, the term designates a set of architectural and artistic productions characterized notably by the use of the semicircular arch, the barrel vault, and a claimed lineage with Roman techniques. However, major art historians such as Henri Focillon and Georges Duby have shown how the unity of Romanesque art is partly the result of a historiographical construction that is both operative and reductive. This reassessment invites a renewed examination of the current scientific relevance of this category, in light of the regional, technical, and functional diversity of Romanesque buildings, as well as the new digital tools capable of renewing analysis, comparison, and interpretation of forms.

It is within this perspective that the cross-border ROMTUR program (Interreg POCTEFA) is situated—Digital innovation to enhance little-known Romanesque heritage and stimulate tourism development in less dynamic areas. Bringing together France, Spain, and Andorra, this project aims to promote a shared Romanesque heritage on the scale of historical Catalonia. By mobilizing digital technologies, the program seeks to make visible a heritage that is both geographically isolated and marginalised in media representation, while renewing forms of scholarly knowledge, cultural mediation, and heritage storytelling.

The conference, organized at the University of Perpignan Via Domitia from 8 to 10 June 2026, proposes to examine the current state of research on Romanesque art in the age of contemporary digital technologies. It will analyze how digital devices contribute to the redefinition of scholarly knowledge, the construction of new heritage narratives, and the broadening of audiences, while questioning issues of legitimacy, standardization, and institutional recognition of digital museums. By bringing together art history, archaeology, and information and communication sciences, this conference seeks to contribute to a critical reflection on contemporary transformations in the heritage-making of Romanesque art.

Thematic tracks

Track 1 – Digital Technologies, Building Archaeology, and the Renewal of Scientific Approaches to Romanesque Art

This track explores the contributions of digital technologies to the renewal of fundamental research on Romanesque art, particularly in the field of building archaeology and architectural analysis. Papers may address the use of surveying, analysis, and visualization tools—such as photogrammetry, 3D scanning, digital modeling, or geographic information systems—applied to architecture, sculpture, or painted decoration.

Particular attention will be paid to methodological and epistemological issues related to the production, management, and use of digital data: reliability of surveys, articulation between quantitative data and qualitative interpretation, renewal of chronological and construction hypotheses, as well as issues of sharing, preservation, and reuse of digital corpora. Proposals are invited to critically examine the role of these tools in processes of scientific interpretation, between knowledge enhancement, new regimes of evidence, and analytical limitations.

Track 2 – Digital Museums: Museality, Institutional Recognition, and Critical Issues

This track proposes to examine digital museums in light of classical and contemporary definitions of the museum, processes of musealization, and forms of exhibition writing specific to digital environments. Papers may analyze digital museums as hybrid cultural and communicational devices, at the intersection of exhibition, archive, and media.

Special attention will be given to issues of institutional and scientific recognition and legitimation: the ambiguous status of digital museums, legal and professional frameworks, authority discourses, and evaluation criteria. Contributions may also address sustainability issues—environmental, technological, and cultural—by questioning the durability of digital devices, digital heritage memory, and the tensions between innovation, obsolescence, and heritage responsibility.

Track 3 – Digital Mediation, Audiences, and Territorial Development: Uses, Experiences, and Cultural Tourism

This track proposes to analyze digital mediation devices for Romanesque heritage through the lens of audience uses, experiences, and modes of reception. Papers may focus on digital heritage narratives, mediation devices (mobile applications, interactive itineraries, augmented or virtual reality, online platforms), and territorial development strategies, examining their articulation with contemporary forms of cultural tourism.

Particular attention will be paid to visitor practices and experiences—whether on-site, hybrid, or remote—as well as issues of accessibility, inclusion, participation, and co-construction of knowledge. Proposals may also examine the effects of these devices on representations of heritage, modes of cultural appropriation, and territorial dynamics, at the intersection of scientific mediation, tourism attractiveness, and cultural democratization.

Submission guidelines

Paper proposals should be sent by email to:
Virginie Soulier – virginie.soulier@univ-perp.fr
Caroline de Barrau – caroline.de-barrau@univ-perp.fr
Louna Warnier – louna.warnier@etudiant.univ-perp.fr

Paper proposals (maximum 1,000 words) must include:

  • the title of the paper;
  • the research question and objectives;
  • the theoretical framework;
  • the methodology and/or corpus studied;
  • the main scholarly contributions.

They must be accompanied by:

  • 5 to 7 keywords;
  • a biographical note of 100 to 150 words.
  • Accepted languages: French, English, Catalan, Spanish.

Timeline

  • Submission deadline: 30 March 2026
  • Notification of acceptance: 17 April 2026
  • Conference: 8–10 June 2026 – University of Perpignan Via Domitia

Organizing Committee

  • Caroline de Barrau, UPVD
  • Esteban Castaner, UPVD
  • Michel Desmier, UPVD
  • Romain Saguer, UPVD
  • Virginie Soulier, UPVD
  • CRESEM: Centre for Research on Societies and Environments in Transition (UR 7397 – UPVD)
  • Master’s students (M2) in Heritage Professions, UPVD: Gregory Cros, Marguerite Cros, Luca Doutres, Jade Elaroubi, Cloé Vermorel, Louna Warnier

Scientific Committee

  • Marianne Cailloux, Associate Professor (HDR), University of Lille
  • Patrick Fraysse, Professor of Information and Communication Sciences, IUT Toulouse Paul Sabatier
  • Sylvie Sagnes, CNRS – Héritages
  • Daniel Piñol Alabart, University of Barcelona
  • Nayra Llonch Molina, University of Lleida
  • Clara Renedo, University of Lleida
  • Martí Vilamajó Solaní, University of Lleida
  • Caroline de Barrau, UPVD
  • Esteban Castaner, UPVD
  • Michel Desmier, UPVD
  • Romain Saguer, UPVD
  • Virginie Soulier, UPVD

Bibliography

Andreacola, F. (2014). Musée et numérique, enjeux et mutations. Revue française des sciences de l'information et de la communication, (5), 1-16. https://hal.science/hal-01834423/file/RFSIC%20Andreacola.pdf

Appiotti, S., & Sandri, E. (2017). Définir le musée par ses injonctions. In F. Mairesse (Ed.), Définir le musée du XXIe siècle : Matériaux pour une discussion (pp. 127–132). ICOFOM.

Baujard, C., & Houdy, P. (2013). Du musée conservateur au musée virtuel : Patrimoine et institution. Hermès Science Lavoisier.

Deloche, B. (2001). Le musée virtuel : Vers une éthique des nouvelles images. Presses universitaires de France.

Deramond, J., de Bideran, J., & Fraysse, P. (dir.). (2022). Scénographies numériques du patrimoine : expérimentations, recherches et médiations. Avignon : Éditions Universitaires d’Avignon. 268 p. ISBN 978-2-35768-125-5.

Idjeraoui-Ravez, L. (2017). Médiation culturelle, NTIC et muséologie : Valeur de lien, valeur d’usage, valeur d’expérience. In M. Pélissier-Thieriot & N. Pélissier (Eds.),

Métamorphoses numériques : Art, culture et communication (pp. 35-47). L’Harmattan.

Malraux, A. (1996). Le musée imaginaire. Gallimard. (Œuvre originale publiée en 1947)

Mathey, A. (2011). Le musée virtuel : Les nouveaux enjeux. Éditions Le Manuscrit.

Navarro, N., & Renaud, L. (2020). Fantasmagorie du musée : Vers une visite numérique et récréative. Culture & Musées, 35, 133-163. https://doi.org/10.4000/culturemusees.4713

Sandri, E. (2020). Les imaginaires numériques au musée ? Débats sur les injonctions à l’innovation. MKF Éditions.

Schmitt, D., & Meyer-Chemenska, M. (2015). 20 ans de numérique dans les musées : Entre monstration et effacement. La Lettre de l’OCIM, (162), 53–57. https://doi.org/10.4000/ocim.1605

Soulier, V., & Roigé, X. (2022). Comment valoriser le patrimoine culturel immatériel via un musée numérique ? Communication & Langages, 211(1), 87-109. https://doi.org/10.3917/comla1.211.0087

Tardy, C., & Jeanneret, Y. (2007). L’écriture des médias informatisés : Espaces de pratiques. Hermès Science Publications – Lavoisier.

Vidal, G. (2018). La médiation numérique muséale : Un renouvellement de la diffusion culturelle. Presses universitaires de Bordeaux.

Welger-Barboza, C. (2001). Le patrimoine à l’ère du document numérique : Du musée virtuel au musée médiathèque. L’Harmattan.

Eliane Vergnolle, L’art roman en France, Paris, Flammarion, 2003.

Marcel Durliat, Roussillon roman, La Pierre-qui-Vire, coll. Zodiaque, 4e édition, 2001.

Géraldine Mallet, Églises romanes oubliées du Roussillon, Nouvelles Presses du Languedoc, 2003.

Xavier Barral i Altet, Xavier, Religious Architecture During the Romanesque Period in Catalonia, Catalan Historical Review, 2011.

Catalunya Romànica (Encyclopédie, 27 vol.), Enciclopèdia Catalana.

Pierre Ponsich, Les origines et l’évolution de l’art roman en Roussillon (divers articles dans Les Cahiers de Saint-Michel de Cuxa).

·       Les Cahiers de Saint-Michel de Cuxa (publication annuelle des Journées Romanes)

·       Catalan Historical Review (Institut d’Estudis Catalans)

Places

  • 52 avenue Paul Alduy
    Perpignan, France (66)

Event attendance modalities

Hybrid event (on site and online)


Date(s)

  • Monday, March 30, 2026

Keywords

  • art roman, musée numérique, patrimoine, médiation numérique, architecture, archéologie du bâti, tourisme culturel

Contact(s)

  • Caroline de BARRAU
    courriel : caroline [dot] de-barrau [at] univ-perp [dot] fr
  • Louna WARNIER
    courriel : louna [dot] warnier [at] etudiant-univ [dot] perp [dot] fr

Information source

  • Caroline de BARRAU
    courriel : caroline [dot] de-barrau [at] univ-perp [dot] fr

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« From the Romanesque Monument to the Digital Medium: Knowledge Production, Cross-Border Mediation, and Heritage Reconfigurations », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, March 05, 2026, https://doi.org/10.58079/15tg7

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