History and Theory of Architecture VIII: Rococo

If rococo is as visual idiom capable of plying a range of materials on all scales to its whims, how does it perform when confronted with that most archaic of architectural gestures: the demarcation and protection of a sacred site or object? This question is especially relevant for the time and place where the religious rococo blossomed: central Europe, in particular what is now Southern Germany, Austrian Tirol and Catholic Switzerland, where campaigns of confessionalisation remained active until the late 18th century. The lectures will analyze case-studies that will provide a general understanding of rococo as an artistic phenomenon, with a focus on how rococo art and architecture circumscribed the sacred.