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| Events
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Conference “Zugänge zum Textilen”

The conference “Zugänge zum Textilen. Wissenschaftliche, kuratorische und digitale Perspektiven.” (Approaches to Textiles. Scholarly, Curatorial and Digital Perspectives. Conference of the Commission for Material Culture and Museum in the DGEKW, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Empirische Kulturwissenschaften e. V.) will take place from 11 to 12 November 2024 at the Erbdrostenhof in Münster (in German). Among other topics, it addresses the following questions: How can access to textile collection areas be regained or re-established, and what role can digitization play in the scientific and curatorial re-examination? How does digitality change access to textiles? The conference is organised by    Prof. Dr. Lioba Keller-Drescher (Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, Inhouse Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change”) and Dr. Kirsten Bernhardt (LWL-Museumsamt für Westfalen, Münster).

| Fellows
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New at the Centre: Prof. Dr. Hubert Locher

Since 1 October 2024, Prof. Dr. Hubert Locher has been a new Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study. He is Professor of History and Theory of Visual Media at the Philipps University of Marburg and Director of the German Documentation Centre for Art History – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg. Hubert Locher’s research interests include art literature and theory of the modern and contemporary era, the history of art history and its methodology, word-image relations since the early modern era, reception aesthetics and history, museum and exhibition history, theory and history of photography as a medium of documentation and art, theory and use of the digital image.

| Fellows
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New at the Centre: Dr. Thomas Kater

Since 1 October 2024, Dr. Thomas Kater has been a new Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study. Dr. Thomas Kater’s research focuses on literary theory and aesthetics, German literature of the 17th and 18th centuries and contemporary literature. After working at the University of Münster, he was a research assistant at the Chair of Modern German Literature with a systematic focus at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, most recently substituting the junior professorship for children’s and young adult literature. His work focuses on publishing and distribution practices as well as the materiality and mediality of literature.

| Fellows
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New at the Centre: Prof. Dr. Johannes Grave

Since 1 October 2024, Prof. Dr. Johannes Grave has been a new Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study. He is Professor of Modern Art History (with a focus on European Romanticism) at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. In 2023, he was elected a member of the Academia Europaea; since 2024, he has been one of the vice presidents of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Grave’s research focuses on questions of image theory and historical image concepts; temporality of the image and image reception; practices of comparison; art, art theory and art history around 1800; Italian painting of the early Renaissance, and French painting of the 17th to 19th centuries.

| Fellows
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New at the Centre: Dr. Regine Ehleiter

Since 1 October 2024, Dr. Regine Ehleiter has been a new Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study. She was previously a research associate at the Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities. Doing Literature in a Global Perspective” at the Freie University Berlin, the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig and the University of Hildesheim. Her work focusses on modern and contemporary art. Her research interests include transnational exhibition history, artistic writing and publication practices and ecological discourses.

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Fourth Summer School Museology

A week of researching and teaching, learning and living in (the middle of) the museum: from 22 to 27 July 2024, the Institute of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology organized a one-week practical course on current topics and tasks of museums together with the LWL Open-Air Museum Detmold (“Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Alltagskultur”). Participants gained in-depth insights into the museum as a field of practice, as a place of research, as a collection and educational institution and much more. It was headed by Prof. Dr Lioba Keller-Drescher, in-house fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study. Guest curator was Dr. Birgit Johler, Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study.

| Events
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“Digital Access to Library Content – Legal Frameworks in Germany and Sri Lanka”

On 15 July 2024, the senior fellows Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa (Univ. of Colombo), Prof. Dr. Nishantha Sampath Punchihewa (Univ. of Colombo) and Prof. Dr. W. K. M. Mervin Kumara Weerasinghe (Univ. of Kelaniya) gave an insight into the topic „Digital Access to Library Content – Legal Frameworks in Germany and Sri Lanka“ in their lecture.

| Events
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Fellow-Lecture: “‘Cultural Appropriation’. Questions about a concept”

On 8 July 2024, Prof. Dr. Thomas Gutmann held his Fellow Lecture “‘Cultural Appropriation’. Questions about a concept“. In his lecture, he  discussed whether cultural appropriation is suitable as a tool of criticism, how other concepts are important to be differentiated from it and what makes a group a possible legal entity with regard to cultural property and inheritance. Thomas Gutman’s lecture was followed by a vivid discussion containing both positive comments as well as critical questions.

| Events
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Fellow Lecture “Embodied Aesthetics”

On 17 June 2024, Dr. Fatmeh Masdari presented in her lecture titled “Embodied Aesthetics – Exploring the Creation and Perception of Artistic Works in the Realms of Human Cognition and Artificial Intelligence” some theses from the project of her second doctoral thesis, dedicated to the investigation of AI-based art. In addition to discussing the societal impacts of AI-generated artworks on the accessibility of art in general, Masdari also explored how AI art could alter our understanding of human aesthetic experience.

| Events
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Lecture: “The Sculptural in the (Post-)Digital Age”

In her lecture “The Sculptural in the (Post-)Digital Age” on 13 May 2024, Prof. Dr. Ursula Ströbele discussed if it is still possible to give a definition of the sculptural in times of digital art (and art permeated by the logic of the digital). To this end, she examined traditional dictums from art theory with regard to their validity in relation to artworks based on augmented, virtual or mixed reality technologies. Ströbele also pointed out the institution-critical potential of digital technologies in art – especially with regard to questions of access to artworks.

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Lecture: „Physical Loss and Digital Reclamation – The Curatorial Concept of the China Pavilion at the Venice Biennale“

On 6 May 2024, Dr. Jiang Jun presented the curatorial concept of the China Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in his lecture “Physical Loss and Digital Reclamation – The Curatorial Concept of the China Pavilion at the Venice Biennale”. At the China Pavilion, digital access is provided to ancient Chinese paintings which would otherwise be lost for the public. Dr. Jiang Jun is curator, art critic and postdoctoral fellow at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, and co-curator of the China Pavilion of the 60th Biennale di Venezia.

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Workshop “Protecting and accessing cultural goods in wartime”

From 4 to 6 April 2024, the Centre for Advanced Study hosted the workshop “Protecting and accessing cultural goods in wartime – Case Studies and Lessons from Armenia and Ukraine”. War not only threatens the lives and physical integrity of people; cultural goods are also at risk of damage and total loss during war. Protecting them in the event of war is an important task for every community, and digitalisation enables new forms and modes of preserving cultural goods or their blueprints that give people access to them in times of war and even more so afterwards. Based on examples and experiences from Armenia and Ukraine, the workshop discussed practical questions and ethical aspects of the protection of cultural goods during war.

| Exhibitions & Videos
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“Where the plastics live”: Video about the exhibition online

In the winter semester 2023/24 the study project “Kunststoffalltage” of the Institute of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology presented its results with an exhibition. Plastic artefacts were presented as “roommates” of student daily life: Objects such as remote controls and toothbrush mugs were used to interpret the everyday dimensions of plastic use. The project was directed by Prof. Dr. Lioba Keller-Drescher, Professor for European Ethnology and in-house fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study. This video provides an insight into the exhibition.

Further information on the exhibition can be found on the homepage of the Institute of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology.

| Events
© CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed/Justyna Lubecka

Video: Students' day at the Bremer Kunsthalle

Students from the University of Münster learned how access to art is created in museums at the students' day at the Bremen Kunsthalle on 23 January 2024. In tours, lectures and discussions with curators, they gained insights into museum work and were able to find out how an exhibition is created – from the initial idea to the installation of the pictures shortly before the opening. Jule Welling, Adelina Meyer and Felix Bomkamp, who are studying at the Institute of Art History at the University of Münster, talk about their experiences at the students' day in a TV report on SAT.1 (in German).

| Events
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Lecture: „Memes in Transformation of the Ukrainian Media Landscape in the Context of War“

On 15 January 2024, Prof. Dr. Mariya Rohozha, Professor of Philosophy at Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev, was a guest of the Centre for Advanced Study. Her lecture “Memes in Transformation of the Ukrainian Media Landscape in the Context of War” took place as part of the sub-project “How to Deal with Cultural Goods in War and Post-war Times: An Ethical Analysis. Also a Contribution to the Foundation of an Ethics of Access to Cultural Goods in an International Perspective”.

| Academic staff
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New at the Centre: Prof. Dr. Ruben Apressyan

Prof. Dr. Ruben Apressyan has been a new member of academic staff at the Centre for Advanced Study since 1 January 2024. He is heading the sub-project “How to Deal with Cultural Goods in War and Post-war Times: An Ethical Analysis”. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Centre.

| Fellows
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New at the Centre: Arslan Sheikh

Arslan Sheikh is a Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study from 1 January 2024. He is based at the Junaid Zaidi Library, COMSATS University, Islamabad, Pakistan. He is currently a PhD student at the Institute for Library and Information Science, Humboldt University, Berlin. His research topic is “Open Science in the Pakistani Perspective”, which is being supervised by Prof. Dr. Eric Steinhauer, who is a Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study.

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Fellow Lecture by Prof. Dr. Erhard Schüttpelz

On 4 December 2023, Prof. Dr. Erhard Schüttpelz gave the Fellow Lecture „Die Öffnung des Museums und das Geheimnis der Sammlungen“ (“The opening of the museum and the secret of the Collections”). In his lecture, Erhard Schüttpelz contested the most famous founding myth of the modern museum which is attributed to the French Revolution, in the course of which the iconoclastic vandalism of the revolutionaries turned into the public display of national cultural assets. The former secret of feudal, monastic and scholarly collections became the public trusteeship of several modern institutions: Museum, academia and the art trade. The lecture aimed to counter this reduction to a single European history and its generalisation through the perspective of a Long Duration („Lange Dauer“), including Christopher Bayly’s characterisation of an archaic globalisation and Mary W. Helms’ theory of a fundamental exoticism of all cultures and the anchoring of its passion for collecting in their respective religious and political centres of power.

| Videos
© Universität Münster | Stefan Klatt

Short video on the „Reclining Pan“

Jon Wiggermann, student of art history and philosophy, explains the special features of Oliver Laric’s “Reclining Pan” in the video – and what questions the artwork raises. From 4 to 30 October 2023, Oliver Laric’s sculpture “Reclining Pan” was on display at the Archaeological Museum of Münster University. The exhibition was a cooperation between the Centre for Advanced Study and the museum on the occasion of the conference „Zugang gestalten! Hindernisse überwinden“.

| Videos
© Foto: Hansgeorg Schöner | Video: Stefan Klatt

Video: Lecture “Access and loss of control – The new dependencies in the age of AI”

Digitization is accompanied by a loss of control and authority of interpretation for established cultural heritage institutions, but at the same time it also offers new opportunities for participation. How can this opportunity be used and at the same time prevent the spread of “powerful lies”? The lecture “Access and loss of control – The new dependencies in the age of AI” by cultural studies expert Dr. Michael Seemann as part of the “Zugang gestalten!” conference is available as a video here.

| Exhibitions & Events
© Universität Münster | Stefan Klatt

Oliver Laric – “Reclining Pan”: Exhibition and Lectures

From 4 to 30 October 2023, Oliver Laric’s sculpture “Reclining Pan” was on display at the Archaeological Museum of Münster University. The exhibition was a cooperation between the Centre for Advanced Study and the museum on the occasion of the conference „Zugang gestalten! Hindernisse überwinden“. Based on the idea of scanning and digitisation, Oliver Laric measures archaeological finds such as sculptures and reliefs and transfers the 3D data into a digital archive, thus providing the opportunity to participate in the production, dissemination and interpretation of his works.

| Events
© Hansgeorg Schöner

Conference „Zugang gestalten!“

From 4 to 6 October 2023, the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digtal Changehosted the conference Zugang gestalten! Mehr Verantwortung für das kulturelle Erbe. The 13th edition of the conference series was dedicated to the topic Hindernisse überwinden (Overcoming Obstacles)”: What prevents the digitization of cultural heritage, what hinders accessibility? More than 50 speakers contributed their expertise both in lectures and in parallel working groups. Director of the conference series is Prof. Dr. Paul Klimpel, who is fellow at the centre in 2023.

| Events
© Universität Münster | KFG „Zugang“

Cultural Memory and Decolonization: The Digitization of the National Archives in The Gambia

Africanist Dr. Katrin Pfeiffer (Hamburg) reported on the project “National Digital Archive of The Gambia – Digital Archive Bakari Kebba Sidibe” of the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC), The Gambia, and the University of Hamburg in her lecture “Cultural Memory and Decolonization: The Digitization of the National Archive in The Gambia” on 14 September. The archive with 5,000 tape and cassette recordings as well as 1,200 transcriptions is a true cultural treasure for The Gambia and unique in Africa. The lecture was a cooperation of the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change” and the association “Afrikanische Perspektiven e. V.”

| Fellows
© WiRe | Felix Bullermann

Elisha Masemann is a WiRe fellow at the Centre

The art historian Dr. Elisha Masemann (University of Auckland, New Zealand) is a fellow of the WiRe programme (Women in reasearch) at the Centre for Advanced Study from 1 May to 31 July 2023. Her research field is contemporary urban and visual art, with an interest in the intersections of art, architecture, urbanism and socio-cultural theory in the context of today’s rapidly changing cities. In Münster, she will analyse an emerging aspect of this field, the “smart city” by way of artistic praxis

| Events
© Universität Münster | Stefan Klatt

Centre for Advanced Study opened ceremoniously

With a lecture by Leibniz Prize winner Prof. Dr. Johannes Grave (University of Jena), the Centre for Advanced Study celebrated its opening on April 25, 2023. Prof. Dr. Reinold Schmücker (speaker) and Prof. Dr. Ursula Frohne (co-speaker) presented the centre. Dr. Niklas Hebing (German Research Foundation), and Prof. Dr. Johannes Wessels, (rector of the University of Münster) gave welcoming speeches. The formation "KySe DrüB feat. Anna Lytton" performed with electronic music, saxophone and live visuals. Afterwards, the guests had the opportunity to talk and exchange ideas at the get together in the foyer of the "Schloss".