How does digitalisation change cultural participation of people with disabilities? Does it open up new ways of access, forms of expression, and spaces for self-determination – or does it create new barriers, standardisations, and exclusions? From 18 to 20 March 2026, the conference “Kulturelle Teilhabe im digitalen Wandel – Ethik, Ästhetik und Praxis des Zugangs zu kulturellen Gütern für Menschen mit Behinderungen” (“Cultural participation in the digital transformation – ethics, aesthetics and practice of access to cultural goods for people with disabilities”, in German) will adress these questions from ethical, aesthetic and practical perspectives. It brings together scientific, artistic and activist forms of knowledge and creates space for dialogue, reflection and joint practice.
The programme includes lectures, artistic contributions and participatory formats on topics such as universal design, inclusive design, ethical, legal and political frameworks, and media and technology-related perspectives. The event is aimed at researchers, students, cultural professionals, people with disabilities, representatives from politics, administration and civil society, as well as the interested public.

From 4 to 6 March 2026, the international conference “Digital Curating: Ethics of Access and Sustainability” will address changes in curatorial practices in the wake of digital transformation and the resulting ethical, ecological and social challenges. Experts from museums, universities and cultural institutions will discuss how digital technologies are expanding access to cultural heritage, challenging existing hierarchies and enabling new forms of participatory knowledge production. The focus will be on questions of authenticity, representation and responsibility in dealing with digital artefacts, reproductions and virtual spaces. The possibilities and risks of artificial intelligence for curatorial processes and the ecological impact of digital infrastructures will also be addressed. The aim of the conference is to open up perspectives on sustainable and equitable cultural access in the digital age and to bring together the aesthetic, ethical and ecological dimensions of globally networked cultural practice.

The conference “Strukturwandel des Publikums? Konsequenzen des digitalen Wandels für den Zugang zum Theater” (‘Structural transformation of the audience? Consequences of digital change for access to theatre’, in German) from 5 to 7 February 2026 will focus on the transformation of theatre in the present day. Audiences and performers no longer always share the same physical space; immediate co-presence is being transformed by digital formats. Theatre streaming, hybrid performances, immersive spaces and interactive performances are changing the relationship between stage and audience and also raise the question who makes theatre – and for whom. How is digital transformation changing the conditions of access to theatre, opening up new opportunities for participation and posing potential challenges? How are the aesthetics and social functions of theatre changing, and what are the consequences for the relationship between stage and audience? Does theatre still represent an independent art form alongside film and gaming?

On Monday, 26 January 2026, 4.15–6.30 pm, Prof. Dr. Nosheen Fatima Warraich (Lahore/Pakistan) will give her Fellow Lecture on the topic of “Ethical and Responsible Use of AI in Research and Information Science” (venue: Room 201, Philosophikum, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how we conduct research, manage data, and share knowledge. While its potential to boost efficiency and innovation is clear, it also raises crucial ethical questions that researchers and information professionals must thoughtfully address. We will discuss how AI tools influence data collection, organization, discovery, and decision-making, as well as the risks they bring—such as bias, misinformation, privacy concerns, and the loss of human judgment. By reflecting on real-world examples, participants will learn how to identify and address these ethical challenges while making the most of AI’s capabilities.

On Thursday, 15 January 2025, from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m., Sebastian Freytag will give a guest lecture on the topic of “Vorstellung / Nachstellung. Künstlerische Rekonstruktion einer Ausstellung” (“Presentation / Re-enactment. Artistic Reconstruction of an Exhibition” (venue: Room 102, Philosophikum, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster). The lecture will focus on the artistic reconstruction of the so-called ‘Vorgartenausstellung’ of 1964, an unconventional action by artists Konrad Lueg, Manfred Kuttner, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter in front of the Parnass Gallery in Wuppertal in 1964. In an installation conceived for the Von der Heydt Museum and modified for ZADIK, the KONSORTIUM group approached this historical event on the basis of photographs and archive documents. Freytag shows how processes of repetition and re-enactment give rise to new perspectives on art-historical narratives. The lecture provides insight into an artistic practice that does not preserve history, but rather creates new approaches to groundbreaking events in art history through contemporary forms of aesthetic and institutional engagement.

On 12 January 2026, from 4:15 to 6:30 p.m., Prof. Dr. Annette Gilbert will give her Fellow Lecture on the topic of “‘We believe this work is culturally important’ – Reprints in the field of tension between commercialisation and public benefit” (in German, location: Room 201, Philosophikum, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster). The lecture focuses on the contemporary reprint industry, which claims to be committed to cultural heritage and has made it its mission to make it (re)accessible. However, this noble cause all too often conceals a business model that takes advantage of the mass retro-digitisation driven by Google & Co., which has made countless public domain works available again, allowing them to be (re)commercialised with little effort. In doing so, they are not only profiting from the fruits of others’ labour. Given the lack of quality control in fully automated production processes, they also damage the works they claim to be saving.

On Monday, 15 December 2025, 4.15–6.30 pm, Dr. Hauke Behrendt (Stuttgart) will give his Fellow Lecture on the topic of “Zugänge und Ausschlüsse – Kulturelle Teilhabe gestalten” (Access and exclusion – shaping cultural participation) (venue: Room 201, Philosophikum, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster). The lecture discusses how digital technologies enable, limit and restructure cultural participation. Digitalisation is often seen as a catalyst for inclusion: it creates new access to art, knowledge and the public sphere. At the same time, new forms of exclusion are emerging. The question of equitable participation in cultural practice is analysed in light of the trilemma of inclusion (Mai-Anh Boger). The lecture argues that cultural participation in digital change should be understood as a reflexive design task. The example of art shows that aesthetic practice can open up a cultural space in which empowerment, normalisation and deconstruction enter into a productive interplay. After the lecture, Hauke Behrendt will present his new book, “Ethics of Digitalisation”.

On 11 December 2025, the fourth edition of the series “Reading Artists’ Books” took place at Witten/Herdecke University and online. It presented publications that, since the 1960s, have critically reflected on computational thinking—that is, ways of thinking shaped by computer-based and algorithmic processes—or that have relied on computer technologies in their making. The program brought together artists, theorists, publishers, and curators who introduced selected publications in short presentations. The event was a cooperation of the Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication at the WittenLab.Future Laboratory Studium Fundamentale at the University of Witten/Herdecke, the Office & Network for Media Art and Digital Culture medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change”.

On 8 December 2025, Prof. Dr. Arto K. Haapala gave his Fellow Lecture on the topic of “Expanding the Scope of Everyday Aesthetics: Possibilities and Threats of Digitalization in Experiencing the Everyday”. It is only in the past twenty years that everyday aesthetics has established a place as one of the relevant and noteworthy fields in philosophical aesthetics. Urban environments are rich in aesthetic features; they are almost like works of art, requiring consideration and knowledge to be comprehended. Urban environments are also everyday living environments. It is undeniable that digitalization has changed our everyday experiences and our everyday environments – urban environments included – considerably. Digitalization is in many cases an extension of our senses, but it is also an easy route to information needed at a particular moment. The danger is that the more concrete physical surroundings get less attention.

On 8 December 2025, the book “Ethik der Digitalisierung” (Ethics of the Digital Change) by Hauke Behrendt, currently a senior fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change”, was published. The book addresses the challenges of the digital transformation as issues of participatory justice, which Behrendt understands as the moral ideal of equal and full social participation and which therefore aims, among other things, at realising self-determined access to important social resources for all.
To mark the publication of the book, the Centre is hosting a Book Presentation with Hauke Behrendt on Monday, 15 December 2025, at 6:45 p.m., accompanied by Wine&Cheese (location: Room 201, Philosophikum, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster). The event takes place after the Fellow-Lecture “Zugänge und Ausschlüsse – kulturelle Teilhabe gestalten” (“Access and Exclusion – Shaping Cultural Participation”), which Behrendt will give at 4:15 p.m. at the same location.

On 1 December 2025, doc. Mgr. Pavel Zahrádka, PhD (Olomouc/Czech Republic) gave his Fellow Lecture on the topic of “Philosophie des Urheberrechts und das Problem der Sperrung des grenzüberschreitenden Zugangs zu Filmwerken” (Philosophy of Copyright and the Problem of Blocking Cross-Border Access to Film Works). The lecture addressed the philosophical and legal foundations of copyright and their implications for the issue of geographical blocking of online access to film works. Zahrádka argued that restrictions lose their legitimacy when they neither protect the actual exercise of copyright nor are effective after a certain period of time. The lecture therefore proposed that copyright should be understood not only as protection for the author, but also as an obligation to treat cultural content responsibly in the interests of society.

From 27 to 28 November 2025, the conference “Schwarzer Markt für rote Bücher. Zur Raubdruckbewegung der 1960er bis 1980er Jahre in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” (Black Market for Red Books: On the Pirate Printing Movement of the 1960s to 1980s in the Federal Republic of Germany) took place at the German National Library in Leipzig. The conference was organised by Prof. Dr. Annette Gilbert from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, currently Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study, in cooperation with the German Book and Writing Museum of the German National Library in Leipzig. The event was sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. The conference was dedicated to an “alternative” form of literature and book production: pirate printing, which takes place without the knowledge or permission of the authors or publishers and reached its peak in the late 1960s to mid-1980s with the student and left-wing movement in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is of considerable importance for the contemporary, political and intellectual history of the Federal Republic: it was indispensable for the triumph of critical theory, but also for the re-emergence of sociology and the emancipation of political science in Germany.

On 20 November 2025, Dr. Buket Altinoba gave a guest lecture on the topic of “Die Skulpturmaschine – Kunst und Technologie im 19. Jahrhundert” (“The Sculpture Machine – Art and Technology in the 19th century”). Her lecture highlighted how artists and engineers worked closely together to develop new mechanical reproduction techniques for precisely duplicating and reducing the size of sculptures. These techniques not only changed production methods, but also the concept of originality, materiality and artistic authorship. At the same time, she opened up a perspective on how today’s digital technologies are shaping the production, distribution and perception of art. The lecture combined historical and contemporary dimensions of technical image production and reflected on how processes of reproduction continue to shape the conditions of cultural access to this day.

On 17 November 2025, Dr. Stefan Heßbrüggen-Walter (Münster) gave a guest lecture on the topic of “Metadaten, ‚forschende Erschließung‘ und die Konstitution kultureller Gegenstände” (“Metadata, ‘research-based indexing’ and the constitution of cultural objects”). Access to cultural goods has always been facilitated by indexing: exhibit labels in museums, catalogue cards in libraries, finding aids in archives. When cultural goods become data, they must also be indexed, in this case through ‘data about data’: metadata. The value of collection portals or digital libraries is largely determined by the quality of this metadata. What cannot be found cannot be received. However, metadata is also itself the subject of research in the digital humanities, and its analysis becomes part of ‘research-based indexing’ (Lina Franken). The lecture explored this interrelationship using three short case studies between art and science, museums and libraries. The aim was to show that metadata constitutes cultural artefacts in the digital space.