AntCom

📣 Conference Presentation at AIUCD 2026

On Thursday, June 4, our AntCom members Panagiotis Leontaridis and Giacomo Marchioro (University of Verona), together with Glen Robson (IIIF Consortium), will present their paper “Modeling and Visualizing Palimpsests with IIIF Presentation API 3.0” at the XV Annual Conference of the Association for Humanities Computing and Digital Culture (AIUCD) in Cagliari, Italy.

🎓 Theme: Digital Technologies and Public Engagement: Practices and Perspectives in the Digital Humanities.

📄 The paper addresses the challenge of representing palimpsests—multi-layered manuscripts with erased and overwritten texts—whose complexity is often lost in linear digital displays. It proposes a framework based on the IIIF Presentation API 3.0 that enables richer navigation and interaction, including switching between reconstructed and current sequences, exploring spectral layers, and isolating undertext elements, offering a more faithful and flexible digital representation of these intricate artifacts.

👏 We look forward to inspiring exchanges and new perspectives at this year’s conference!

🎓 Guest Speaker Invitation at Freie Universität Berlin

We are proud to share that our PhD fellow, Francesco Aresti has been invited as a guest speaker for the university course “A Corner of Europe: Galician Culture” at Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin).

The course offers an engaging introduction to Galician culture through artistic, cultural, and political perspectives, exploring themes such as history, identity, and stereotypes within broader Iberian and European contexts.

During the session on May 28, Francesco will present his doctoral research and contribute to the course’s comparative approach by examining heritage systems and discourses in Galicia and Sardinia.
The aim is to foster discussion and deepen understanding of contemporary cultural dynamics alongside students and faculty.

We look forward to this exciting exchange of ideas and the opportunity to contribute to an international academic dialogue! 🌍📚

Meet our final keynote speaker for Classics Today: Decentering and Digitalization

👉 Aglae Pizzone, University of Southern Denmark

Aglae Pizzone works at the intersection of Byzantine studies, manuscript cultures, and intellectual history, with a particular focus on how knowledge is transmitted and transformed across time. As one of the principal investigators of the AntCom project, she is deeply engaged in developing innovative and collaborative approaches to the study of the premodern world.

At the summer school, Aglae will contribute with two lectures. She will present “Whose Classics?”, exploring how the concept of “the classics” is shaped, shared, and reinterpreted across cultures and contexts. She will also co-present the keynote “New Ways of Reading” together with Lars Boje Mortensen, focusing on how recent interdisciplinary and digital developments are reshaping how we engage with historical texts.

If you are interested in manuscript cultures and new perspectives on the classical past, these sessions are not to be missed.

🔗 Check here our course’s syllabus: https://antcom.eu/summer-school-syllabus/

📣 International Seminar in Verona | AntCom Project

We are delighted to share an upcoming event organized by the AntCom team based at the University of Verona:

“Virgilio (invisibile) a Verona” — an international seminar dedicated to the collaborative transcription of Virgil’s works preserved in the manuscript XL of the Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona.

🗓 29 May 2026, 14:00
📍 Aula T.8, Palazzo di Lingue, University of Verona
💻 Remote participation available via Zoom

The seminar will present the results of a collaborative and citizen science initiative, bringing together scholars, students, and local schools to explore the reception and transmission of Virgil’s texts.

The programme features contributions from international experts and highlights key themes such as late antique commentary traditions, cultural memory, and the rediscovery of classical texts, alongside presentations of the project outcomes by participating schools with high school students presenting their work as true research professionals.

We warmly invite you to join this inspiring exchange between academia and the wider community! 🌍📚

Meet our next keynote speaker for Classics Today: Decentering and Digitalization

👉 Lars Boje Mortensen, University of Southern Denmark

Lars Boje Mortensen is a leading scholar of medieval Latin literature and intellectual history, with a strong interest in how texts are transmitted, interpreted, and recontextualized across time. Working at the crossroads of philology and broader cultural history, he explores new ways of reading and understanding premodern sources.

On August 6, Lars will present his keynote New Ways of Reading (co-presented with Aglae Pizzone). In this lecture, he will introduce innovative perspectives on engaging with historical texts, highlighting how digital and methodological developments can reshape how we approach and interpret the past.

If you are interested in medieval studies, textual scholarship, and new methodological approaches in the humanities, this is a keynote you won’t want to miss.

🔗 Learn more about the summer school programme: https://antcom.eu/sdu-international-summer-school-2026/

Stay tuned as we introduce our final keynote speaker!

Meet our next keynote speaker for Classics Today: Decentering and Digitalization

👉 Thomas Kaarsted, University Library of Southern Denmark & SDU Citizen Science Knowledge Center

Thomas Kaarsted is Principal Consultant and Head of Communications at the University Library of Southern Denmark, as well as Head of the SDU Citizen Science Knowledge Center. His work focuses on open science, citizen science, and co-creation, with a particular emphasis on how libraries and cultural institutions can act as hubs for public engagement and societal impact. Thomas has extensive experience working at the intersection of research, communication, and public participation, and he has played a central role in developing citizen science and citizen humanities initiatives across disciplinary boundaries.

On August 6, Thomas will present his keynote Premodern Humanities and Citizen Engagement. In this talk, he explores how premodern humanities can be reimagined through citizen engagement, participation, and co-creation. Drawing on experiences from citizen humanities and open research practices, Thomas will discuss how involving wider publics can decenter traditional academic authority, enrich research questions, and create new, inclusive ways of connecting past societies with present-day communities.

If you are interested in citizen humanities, public engagement, and new models for doing humanities research in a digital and participatory age, this keynote is one you won’t want to miss.

Stay tuned as we introduce our final keynote speakers!

We’re excited to share that our PhD student Evgeniya Litvin will be speaking at the upcoming conference “La canzone d’autore nei paesi slavi” in Bari this May! 🌟

Her talk — “L'antichità greco-romana nella canzone d'autore tardo-sovietica” — explores how Soviet poets-songwriters such as Galich, Okudzhava, and Vysotsky drew on Greek and Roman antiquity in their lyrics. Evgeniya looks at how these classical echoes intersect with Russian literary traditions and the political realities of their time.

👏 Well done, Evgeniya! ✨

📣 Meet our next keynote speaker for Classics Today: Decentering and Digitalization

👉 Irina Mihaela Ciortan, NTNU, Department of Computer Science

Irina is a postdoctoral researcher working at the intersection of imaging science, computer vision, and cultural heritage. Her research focuses on spectral and multispectral imaging, machine learning, and visualization methods for studying and reconstructing the appearance of various artworks, such as paintings, textiles, and historical photographs. She earned her PhD in Computer Science from NTNU’s Colourlab, with a thesis on spectral and multi-light imaging for cultural heritage, and has also held research positions at Yale University and the University of Verona. Her work has contributed to major heritage projects such as PERCEIVE, Lying Pen of Scribes, Scan4Reco, COSCH, and Arkwork. She also has experience in teaching, conference leadership, and scientific publishing, with a strong commitment to connecting technical innovation with cultural heritage preservation and interpretation.

On August 7, Irina will present “White Light Contains All Colours: The Myth of Whiteness and the Spectral Life of Artworks.” In this talk, she explores how spectral imaging challenges long standing assumptions about colour, materiality, and “whiteness” in artworks—revealing hidden layers, forgotten hues, and the complex histories embedded in cultural objects. Her work shows how advanced imaging and machine learning can transform our understanding of what artworks once looked like, how they age, and how they can be preserved.

If you’re curious about how cutting edge technology can illuminate the vibrant, spectral lives of ancient and historical objects, this is a session you won’t want to miss. Stay tuned as we introduce more keynote speakers!

NB! Scholarships are almost gone. For more information on how you can apply for a scholarship go to https://antcom.eu/sdu-international-summer-school-2026/

An exciting Citizen humanities project is happening in Verona these days - combing through the lines of Virgil… Παναγιώτης Λεονταρίδης Κωνσταντίνα Τσάκωνα

📢 Meet our next keynote speaker for Classics Today: Decentering and Digitalization

👉 Eric Cullhed, Uppsala University, Department of Linguistics and Philology

Eric’s work moves boldly across disciplines, from the Homeric epics and their long afterlives to Latin American poetry, aesthetics, and philosophical psychology. His research thrives on crossing boundaries—intellectual, methodological, and technological. He has trained machine learning models to restore damaged Greek papyri and inscriptions, explored how emotions shape interpretation, and even written a philosophical study of crying. At the heart of his work is a curiosity about how humans express, perceive, and theorize feeling across cultures and historical distances.

On August 12, Eric will present “Emotion Theory and Computational Sentiment Analysis: The Challenge of Antiquity.” In this talk, he examines what happens when modern tools for detecting and analyzing emotion meet ancient texts—texts shaped by different languages, genres, and emotional frameworks. How do we teach machines to recognize feelings in works that come from worlds so unlike our own? And what does this reveal about the limits and possibilities of both AI and classical scholarship?

If you’re interested in how digital methods can illuminate (and complicate) the emotional landscapes of antiquity, this is a session you won’t want to miss. Stay tuned as we introduce more keynote speakers!

NB! Scholarships are almost gone! Visit antcom.eu to find information on how you can apply for a scholarship.