On October 22 and 23, 1999, The Society for Art History and Archeology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sponsored the graduate student symposium Space and Place. Dr. Marvin Trachtenberg, Edith Kitzmiller Professor of the History of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, delivered the Keynote Address, "The Problem of Perspectivism and its Absence in the Piazza." Nine papers were presented by graduate students from various mid-west and east coast Universities.

The manner in which one conceives of and defines the idea of space is continuously evolving, particularly in our current age of technology, when space is no longer bound by tangible or tactile measurement. Place has also become a topic of increasing interest in relation to issues of identity be they social, cultural, political or geographic. As organizers of the symposium, we were extremely pleased with the breadth and diversity of abstracts that were submitted. Seven of the nine papers that were chosen for the symposium are being published here in Modernity. These papers offer insight into the various approaches in which the theme of "Space and Place" may be interpreted, and from various subjects, from the interior design of the arts and craft movement to computer-generated installation art. Issues of memory, gender, and community response, are just a few of the ideas explored in these papers. The papers presented here allow one to further expand upon how we understand the engagement of space and place by creators of visual culture as well as how we understand ourselves.