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, speakers will 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. Hosted by the Warburg Institute and supported by The Leverhulme Trust, the event is free and open to the public, but booking is required. Book 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