GRK 1678

‚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 ???