Department Michalsky
Cities and Spaces in Premodernity
Profile
The Department was founded ten years ago, and initially it focused on the Middle Ages or the so-called pre-modern period in Italy. Since then, not only has the discussion about the relationship of the ‘Middle Ages’ (or ‘pre-modernity’) to ‘modernity’ continued to develop, but the case studies in the Department have also continued to progress, thereby generating reflections on and reconsiderations of this relationship. What these studies have in common is less their time frame than the methodological reflection on space and its representations. The aim is to question (art) historical narratives up to the present day. Without feeling compelled to rename the Department, it should be made clear that we are interested in a general analysis of how the histories of cities, spaces, and monuments/objects are constructed in different media, how we interpret historical conditions (of and in space), and how we can develop new methods and explanations that do justice to the complexity of this process, not least with the help of digital tools.
One geographical area of special interest is Southern Italy, specifically Naples within the context of the Mediterranean region. Given its complex multicultural history, investigating this region requires us to expand the geographical frame of reference and to refine the application of methodological tools of gender and post- / decolonial studies. Stimulated by the methodological work on cartography, there is a growing body of research in the department that deals with questions of ‘scaling.’ This can be understood as not only the scaling of the research objects themselves but also of the comparative frameworks that are applied.
Report 2022–2024
The joint work of the department is structured around the research areas that provide a framework for individual projects. Continuity is ensured by two- to three-year contracts for Doctoral Students and one- to two-year contracts for Postdoctoral Fellows. Bottom-up initiatives for reading groups and on-site discussions (field seminars) have proven useful to discuss topics arising from the projects and to address current research questions. The initiative taken by emerging scholars plays an important role for the lectures and workshops promoted by the Department. These initiatives are represented in the report by the sub-projects. Moreover, our visiting scholars have contributed significantly to the internal and external exchange of ideas. In the years following the pandemic, when the need for personal exchange in the form of conferences had become particularly acute, the question arose again about how to balance ‘silent’ individual research and conferences so that young researchers can complete their qualification work within the scheduled time frame. Our Postdocs have regular opportunities to teach in Field Seminars funded by the ERASMUS+ program, such as the Blended Intensive Programs, which involve German, Italian, and Spanish universities.
In recent years, the fruits of our research have been successfully harvested and made available to the research community and the wider public through a series of publications. In addition to books and essays, new formats were explored that make the results available online. The video Palimpsest Naples. Natural Disasters vividly illustrates how methods can be combined and intertwined in reconstructing the history of a city shaken by natural disasters. The online annotated maps of Naples have established themselves as a popular tool for the scientific community.
Two major projects were completed in the time frame of this report. The results of “Historical Spaces in Flavio Biondo’s Italia illustrata” were published in the first volume of the Hertziana Studies in Art History, in which a great deal of the DH Lab’s energy was invested due to the status of this volume as a prototype for the series.
The ERC-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie project Conques in the Global World. Transferring Knowledge: From Material to Immaterial Heritage, which was carried out as an international cooperation under the direction of Masaryk University Brno from 2020 to 2024, has resulted in numerous contributions to the final publication of the project, a critically commented image database on the abbeys architecture and treasury, and the concluding conference of the project hosted by our department.
Various other international partnerships in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, the UK, and the USA, including exchange of personnel, were forged or further expanded. The department has established itself as a center for the study of urban space, sacred space, and southern Italy, so that the international exchange channeled through conferences and resulting in joint publications has grown steadily.
For art historians, excursions and study trips are almost a matter of course. During the reporting period, the last such undertaking under the title Mailand. Inszenierungen einer Metropole (Milan: Staging a Metropolis) occurred in 2024. Together with the German Archaeological Institute and the German Historical Institute, we regularly organize study trips in Rome and to various cities with the aim of expanding the interdisciplinary dialogue. Within the Institute, the Neapel-Forum provides a cross-departmental platform for field seminars and the discussion of ongoing research on Naples and Southern Italy. The work in the field leads to particularly lively discussions that result in initiatives for new projects.
The Department’s main focus is on Scaling Southern Italy. In recent years, projects have looked at the narratives of various media that have shaped our perception of the region. The methodological approach of ‘scaling’ offers new possibilities for questioning existing perspectives and developing new ones.
Cinematic Space deals with the ways of constructing space specific to the medium of cinema. It serves as a forum in which film and art scholars discuss the categories of image and montage, with particular attention being paid to the spaces of work and landscape.
Historical Spaces examines scientific techniques and their application in the attempts we undertake today to grasp historical space. Digital instruments are used to do this, yet their application is also examined in view of the limitations of virtual reconstruction.
Epistemes of Cartography examines the knowledge production of maps. In addition to the digital annotation of historical maps, which makes knowledge production visible, territorial representation is also interrogated on a media-theoretical level. The extent to which a map or image can provide a view of historical reality is always considered, as well as the type of space it generates and how intention, visual design, and the now ubiquitous georeferencing and associated essentialisation of places relate to one another.
The focus Middle Ages and Medievalisms brings together projects that deal with medieval objects while also shedding light on how the ‘Middle Ages’ were treated in later epochs. There is a need for a re-evaluation of this epoch that goes beyond its definition as the period between antiquity and the Renaissance. This is because modernists have long ignored how our relationship to numerous themes associated with modernity was pioneered and prepared during this period.