He studies the visual and material cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and adjacent landmasses, with a particular focus on late antique and Byzantine art and architecture. His first book, Cosmos and community in early medieval art (forthcoming from Yale University Press), analyzes the reception of ancient techniques for imaging the cosmos. The second, Image as oracle from Byzantium to the Baroque, will address the invention of the image of the future and its consequences. In addition to those larger projects, he maintains active interests in the efficacy of forms, non-professional interpreters of ancient art, the urban history of Constantinople, and the later medieval architecture of Anatolia.