RU 
EN The 9th International Academic Conference Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art took place in St Petersburg on 26–31 October 2020. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it combined in-person sessions with remote participation and online broadcasts.
The conference was organised by Saint Petersburg State University and Lomonosov Moscow State University, with the State Hermitage Museum as its permanent museum partner. Access to the venues was limited to participants and to no more than 30 people in each room, while attendees followed the sessions online.
Academic concept
The conference focused on contemporary approaches to the historiography and methods of art history. Its broad chronological scope extended from ancient to contemporary art, bringing together architectural and art history, museum practice, conservation, and interdisciplinary cultural heritage research.
For the first time, the sessions were arranged in three major thematic strands:
- United in the Museum — visual art and artistic culture from antiquity to the 20th century, considered through academic research and museum practice;
- Art and Culture of the Middle Ages: Heritage and Perspectives of Comprehension — medieval monuments, the afterlives of earlier traditions in later culture, and collaboration between the humanities and natural sciences;
- From the Renaissance to the Present — the history and theory of art-historical thought in contemporary scholarship.
The medieval strand was organised by Saint Petersburg State University with support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-012-22040. Two sessions on architectural theory, history, and conservation were developed with the Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning (NIITIAG).
Conference 2020 programme overview
Materials and outcomes
The medieval strand produced the bilingual volume of abstracts Art and Culture of the Middle Ages: Heritage and Perspectives of Comprehension (St Petersburg, 2020; ISBN 978-5-6045401-4-5). It brought together research in art history, architecture, and cultural heritage.
Proceedings from the 9th conference were published in two issues of Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Volume 11 (2021) and Volume 12 (2022). Both contain articles in Russian and English.