Events

Recent discussions in aesthetics and art history, literature, and visual studies have seen a renewed interest in questions of form and formalism. Whether in connection with algorithmic thinking, computer vision, and artificial intelligence, or with transcultural comparisons, revised narratives of modernism, re-conceptualisations of formlessness, and cognitive reflections on connoisseurship, form and formalism have regained currency in current discourses on a transhistorical and transdisciplinary level. It has become clear that an “archaeology of knowledge” about these crucial notions is indispensable in teasing out their critical potential and in productive application of what has also been termed “new formalism” or “post-formalism”. [more]

This seminar is devoted to an exploration of three cities that claimed the title of being a New Jerusalem. More specifically, we will explore aspects of the rise and development of the Christian veneration of saints and relics as a decidedly urban phenomenon in the cities of Constantinople, Rome, and Venice from the late antique to the early modern period. [more]

Mandrakes mark the boundary of nature and art. They were coveted objects for medicine, natural history, magic and collections. Supposedly, these human-like roots grow naturally. However, in the early modern period, it was also common knowledge that they were often faked. [more]

Departing from Karel Teige’s essay Realism, the lecture first examines how the so-called non-conformist artists and philosophers in the ČSSR problematized and deconstructed the highly disputed notion of ‘reality’. [more]

The conference will explore the many ways the concept of the Renaissance has been viewed over the centuries, with a focus on the key figures, artistic practices and paradigms that have helped keep it alive for five hundred years. [more]

In this talk Hal Foster looks back at the last few decades of modernist studies from a personal perspective, touching on the challenges of both contemporary art and decolonial critique. He also considers how ideas of modernism might be bound up with models of modernity that are both problematic and outdated. [more]

Inspired by Nietzsche’s remark that "madness in individuals is somewhat rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule", the book studies the representation of mental disorders across the media, ancient and modern. [more]

In light of shifting theoretical paradigms in art history, reflecting on methods and their cultural frameworks is crucial and urgent. Contemporary efforts to evolve beyond the power relations of center and periphery and to redefine the relations between ideas, things, people, spaces and temporalities are fostered by current societal and political changes. From this arises the demand for an awareness of the intellectual genealogies and ideological implications of art historical methods. [more]

[more]

In light of shifting theoretical paradigms in art history, reflecting on methods and their cultural frameworks is crucial and urgent. Contemporary efforts to evolve beyond the power relations of center and periphery and to redefine the relations between ideas, things, people, spaces and temporalities are fostered by current societal and political changes. From this arises the demand for an awareness of the intellectual genealogies and ideological implications of art historical methods. [more]