Carolyn Dean, Distinguised Professor of Art History/Visual Culture
University of California-Santa Cruz

Monday, April 6, 2026
5:00 PM
Location: Rocky 001 (tentative)
Free and open to all

Lecture title: Configuring the Inka Empire: Decoration, Decorum, and Relational Ontology

Abstract: Although the Inka were capable of figural representation, they favored abstraction in their public visual culture. This presentation focuses on the advantages of abstraction from an Inka perspective and how so-called decorative motifs supported their imperial aspirations. Non-resemblant designs drew on Indigenous Andean relational ontology and depended on intersubjective interpretation, which entailed viewing configurations as agentive, sentient subjects. Discussion centers a motif known as the Inka Key, showing how it activated relationality and intersubjectivity to demonstrate reciprocal but asymmetrical obligations. The Inka employed the abstract Key design and other geometric configurations across media and on multiple occasions, spanning the empire’s linguistic and ethnic diversity while visualizing essential organizational schema and promoting the decorum on which the Inka state depended.