From 3 July to 5 September 2025, the Centre for Advanced Study presents the exhibition “case study #2: Re:Set: From Slide to Database – Media Change in Art History” – an exhibition by students of the Institute of Art History. It takes media change in art history as its starting point to illuminate the historical, aesthetic, and epistemological dimensions of art-historical image practices. Among other things, poster presentations and an installation by artist Dr. Philipp Goldbach featuring historical glass slides are on display.
Opening hours: Monday–Friday 9 am to 7 pm (during lecture period until 18 July 2025) and 10 am to 6 pm (during lecture-free period from 21 July 2025).
Venue: Library Foyer Philosophikum, University of Münster, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster

A week of researching and teaching, learning and living in (the middle of) the museum: from 21 to 26 July 2025, the Institute of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology organizes 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 will gain 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. The Summer School is headed by Prof. Dr Lioba Keller-Drescher, In-house Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study. Guest curator is Dr. Birgit Johler, Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study.

What does it mean when a piece of history is missing and cultural identity has been stolen? The film series “Access and Return: Restitution in films” investigated the struggle for cultural self-determination, dealing with continuing colonial power relations and the question of what restitution means and can mean today, focusing on “Restitution as an Act of Recognition” (17 June 2025), “Counter Voices and Rhythms of Resistance” (24 June 2025) and “Reparative Practices of Remembrance” (1 July 2025). It aimed to look at where objects are absent – and thus understand restitution not only as a gesture of reparation, but also as a social challenge. The film series was a cooperation with the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur).

From 26 May to 22 June 2025 the exhibition “case study #1: Access to Curatorial Networks – Postcards from Kasper König” was presented by the Centre for Advanced Study. The exhibition was designed by students of the colloquium course taught by Ursula Frohne and Berit Hummel. It featured collaged cards that Kasper König (1943–2024), co-founder and long-time artistic director of Skulptur Projekte Münster and director of the Museum Ludwig, sent to artists, colleagues and companions. The personal messages are a unique testimony to his curatorial practice.

Dr. Thomas Kater, Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study, is a guest at the podcast “Digitalgespräch” hosted by the Centre Responsible Digitality (ZEVEDI) at the Technical University of Darmstadt. He talks about his research topic “Simplifying literature – with AI? Digitality and cultural participation.” Access to cultural goods and works of art should be open to as many people as possible. “Access” here means both the sensory experience of essential aspects of the work and the opportunity to understand what one is confronted with. In the case of literature, however, sophisticated written language is a barrier for many people. Should we intervene here by changing the literary works themselves—perhaps even using AI? A passionate debate has arisen around the approach of radically simplifying literature, which Thomas Kater gives an overview of.

On 13 May 2025, the “Art on the Campus” tour took place for members of the Centre for Advanced Study. Dr. Eckhard Kluth, head of “Zentrale Kustodie & Kulturbüro” at the University of Münster, provided an insight into the works of art on the Old Town Campus. In everyday university life, we encounter works of art on a daily basis. Contemporary artworks were created, for example, as art in architecture or as part of the “Skulptur Projekte” exhibitions. This has resulted in a heterogeneous collection of artworks that is constantly challenged by everyday life as “art on the campus”. When encountering the various works, questions of access, participation, and use in the analogue world also become relevant.

The Center for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change's master class “Access to Contested Collections – Digital and Analog” took place on 2–4 April 2025. Master’s and doctoral students, postdocs, and research trainees working at museums or art institutions who are engaged with collections with colonial backgrounds or artworks and artifacts with sensitive content were invited. The masterclass offered them the opportunity to discuss, together with colleagues from museums and art institutions in an interdisciplinary environment, which new perspectives or challenges arise from digital access to contested collections.

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.) took place from 11 to 12 November 2024 at the Erbdrostenhof in Münster (in German). Among other topics, it addressed 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 was 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).

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.

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“.

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.

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.

From 4 to 6 October 2023, the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digtal Change” hosted 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.