GRK 1678
Graduate College 1678 ‚Production’ and ‚Materiality’
‚Production’ and ‚Materiality’ are crucial terms of aesthetic and cultural history which the
graduate school attempts to explore in systematic and genealogical terms. Concepts of
matter are produced by cultural dynamics, and these concepts vary historically. Even the
production of ideal or immaterial values and concepts requires a material context and foundation.
We thus aim to surpass the binary opposition of constructivist/relativistic versus materialistic
approaches in order to employ historic and contemporary models of cultural and social
practices in the wider field of aesthetic experience and aesthetic production (gesture,
ornament, script, object art etc.).
The graduate school cooperates with French, English and Italian partners. The
methodology and themes of the research program are thus situated in an international context
which pays due consideration to the research foci of our fellow institutions: historical
anthropology, ethnology and sociology as in the case of our French partners, the Ecole des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales or the Sorbonne. Expert representatives of disciplines
not covered by the scope of departments that form part of the school will be invited for guest
lectures and Workshops. Since the summer semester 2006, preparation work has included
various conferences in Düsseldorf and Paris. The on-going cooperation with the French institutions
mentioned above has been realized both on the level of research and of teaching
(summer schools, colloquia). For further information, please see our ???