ICMA Study Day
Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages
The Met Cloisters, New York City
In-person
Thursday 12 February 2026, 1pm
Register HERE
Spectrum of Desire considers how medieval objects reveal and structure the performance of gender, understandings of the body, and erotic encounters, both physical and spiritual. It offers new readings of often familiar objects in which gender, sexuality, relationships, and bodies are central themes. Its methods draw from gender studies and queer theory to help visitors to the exhibition question past assumptions and read against the grain of modern heteronormativity.
Join Melanie Holcomb and Nancy Thebaut, co-curators of the exhibition, for a tour followed by group discussion of some of the show’s more challenging objects. We’ll be able to have a coffee break halfway through the afternoon at the new Cloisters winter café.