(Un)mapping Infrastructures of Modern Art. Transnational Perspectives in Modern and Contemporary Art
CALL FOR PAPER
(Un)mapping Infrastructures of Modern Art, IV: Infrastructures of supporting travels and exhibiting modernism transnationally (1940s-1990s).
Workshop 8.-10. October 2025, Poznań, Poland
Deadline: 01.02.2025
Prof. Dr. Bärbel Küster (University of Zurich), Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska
Poznań, Poland (Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts, Poznań, Poland and other venues)
ABOUT THE RESEARCH PROJECT
(Un)Mapping Infrastructures. Transnational Perspectives in Modern and Contemporary Art
The original meaning of “infrastructure” (from the Latin infra, and structura) refers to a substructure or ground, and to static constructions which, like nodal points, establish important lines of connection and guarantee supply. Applied to the arts, the term may be said to designate institutions such as museums, exhibition venues, biennials, private collections, production sites (studio, workshops, laboratory, academies, art schools) and universities but also funding institutions, publishers, and other (academic) authorities that contribute to relevant discourses, networks, and the publicizing of art.
Taking a transnational, non-Eurocentric perspective, the goal of this group is to critically question these infrastructures since the modern era, as well as to examine their possible alternatives. It will ask specifically about blind spots of the previous art historiography, multi-perspectivity, and interweaving stories, moving our understanding of modern art production beyond the dominant canon and narrative. Orders, spaces, and actors will be mapped in specific case studies in order to survey how technical, political, and economic conditions shaped the cultural field.
A series of separate workshops discusses themes such as production, transport, collecting, exhibition and display, promotion, publishing and critical discourse, and avoidance and appropriation as a practice of horizontal art history (Piotrowski). The core group of this research network brings together scholars from the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland and welcomes especially contributions to the workshops and publication from researchers outside of Western Europe and North America.
Since 2019, the research group focuses on the infrastructures of modern art from a transnational perspective.
Institutional Partners
Braunschweig University of Art, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte München, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Amsterdam, University of Zurich, Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts, Poznań, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Justus Liebig University Giessen.
Members of the Research Group
Prof. Dr. Burcu Dogramaci/Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Dr. Rachel Esner/University of Amsterdam
Prof. Dr. Bärbel Küster/University of Zurich
Prof. Dr. Gregor M. Langfeld/University of Amsterdam
Prof. Dr. Christa-Maria Lerm-Hayes/University of Amsterdam
Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska/Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts, Poznań
Prof. Dr. Ursula Ströbele/ Braunschweig University of Art
Prof. Dr. Lynn Rother/Leuphana University Lüneburg
Dr. Annabel Ruckdeschel/Justus Liebig University Giessen
Programs of Workshops
2020 Online-Workshop: Infrastructures of Collecting in Transnational Perspective, University of Amsterdam. Organized by: Prof. Dr. Gregor M. Langfeld
2021 Online-Workshop: Infrastructures of Producing, Transporting and Logistics in Transnational Perspectives, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte München. Organized by: Prof. Dr. Burcu Dogramaci, PD Dr. Ursula Ströbele
2023 Workshop: Infrastructures of Publishing & Critiquing, University of Zagreb. Organized by: Dr. Annabel Ruckdeschel, Prof. Dr. Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes, Prof. Dr. Leonida Kovač
2024 Workshop: Infrastructures of Trading and Transferring Art since 1900, Central European Research Institute for Art History (KEMKI) Budapest. Organized by: Prof. Dr. Gregor M. Langfeld, Dr. Kristóf Nagy, Prof. Dr. Lynn Rother