Kris Racaniello

Kris Racaniello serves as the 2023-2025 Kress Foundation History of Art Institutional Fellow at the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck Institute for Art History) within Department Michalsky, while completing doctoral studies in Art History at CUNY Graduate Center. Their research fundamentally reinterprets medieval shrine construction through the concept of 'shrine concepteurs'—specialized creators who engineered material narratives to renew cultic foci across the Atlantic Pyrenean periphery during the Long Twelfth Century.

Education:

• PhD Candidate, Department of Art History, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)
• MPhil degree (institution unspecified)

Racaniello's scholarship pioneers the disarticulation of physical 'happenings' from constructed material narratives in medieval shrines, challenging objecthood paradigms through case studies at Conques, Oviedo, and Santiago de Compostela. They investigate how epigraphic inscriptions, paleographic texts, iconographic programs, and ritual repertoires were deliberately manipulated by competing shrine concepteurs to overwrite historical events—exploiting martyrial 'vocal voids' through legenda elaboration. Current work examines codicophagy, post-medieval macerations, and 'Living Medievalisms' in performance contexts, revealing how material narratives shaped devotion across literacy spectrums.

As editor and scientific collaborator for 'Conques in the Global World,' Racaniello leads the auralization component, conducting systematic acoustic data collection and soundscape processing within Conques Abbey Church to reconstruct medieval auditory experiences. This innovative methodology bridges material culture with sensory history.

Scientific recognition:

• Kress Foundation History of Art Institutional Fellowship (2023-2025)
• Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte Paris Research Fellowship (January-March 2023)

Professional trajectory spans significant art-world engagement as Co-Director of Field Projects gallery (2016-2023) and NY Gallery Manager for Les Enluminures (2016-2022), where they curated over 100 exhibitions—establishing unique expertise in translating historical material practices to contemporary contexts. Current mentorship through Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies demonstrates commitment to scholarly community building.