Many thanks for your interest in the International Research Project “Bilderfahrzeuge. Aby Warburg’s Legacy and the Future of Iconology”.
The project’s online presence has moved to a new website, please follow the link here for up-to-date information on the project’s researchers, events and blog:
Dr Philipp Ekardt
NOMIS-fellow (eikones), University of Basel
Monday, 10 December 2018, 5:30 pm
Warburg Institute
Woburn Square
London WC1H 0AB
Admission free; please register for this event through the Events section of the School of Advanced Study (SAS).
Aby Warburg’s concept of the Bilderfahrzeug implies a theory of
image-transmission which relies on the notion of a displacement of
material ‘carriers’ (a palpable medial support) on which such images
‘travel’. This lecture focuses on the period around 1800, and in
particular the works of Goethe – primarily his novel ‘Elective Affinities’
(1809), as well as Lady Hamilton’s ‘attitudes’ – offering a perspective on the mechanisms of image-circulation at that historical and cultural moment. Investigating Goethe and Hamilton also allows us to differentiate our general understanding of image-transmissions.
Looking at Goethe’s literary accounts of so-called ‘tableaux vivants’
(living images), and Hamilton’s art of theatrical poses and their
mediation, it becomes clear that the activity of building assemblages and
the aesthetic and artistic concept of composition are of central
importance here. Both form part of a constellation in which images are
less seen as ‘traveling’ on concrete carriers than as appearing,
disappearing and reappearing in fortuitous material configurations which
have been composed. The tableaux vivants and the attitudes form part of a
system in which also magical and aesthetic moments of resemblance, or the
creation of vistas in parks have their place.
Dr Anna McSweeney
(Lecturer in Art History at the School of History, Art History and Philosophy, University of Sussex)
London, 12 November 2018, 5:30 pm
Warburg Institute
Woburn Square
London WC1H 0AB
Admission free; please register for this event through the Events section of the School of Advanced Study (SAS).
Postdoctoral Research Position for 2 years at the Max Weber Stiftung – India Branch Office (IBO) in New Delhi. Pay will be in keeping with the current rules of the German embassy in India.
The Max Weber Stiftung – India Branch Office (IBO) invites applications from postdoctoral scholars for the position of a Junior Research Associate for 2 years to be based at the IBO in New Delhi. The candidate is expected to contribute to the international research network “Bilderfahrzeuge (Image Vehicles): Aby Warburg’s Legacy and the Future of Iconology”, supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research, and realized in a collaboration of the Warburg Institute, London, with German partner institutions (see list below). The objective of this project is to explore the migration of images, objects, and ideas in a broad historical and geographical perspective. In particular, it seeks to provide a contribution to the history of images which is based on Aby Warburg’s approach and method, rethinking them in the light of new interdisciplinary, international scholarship. For further information on the research network see https://iconology.hypotheses.org/.
The position in Delhi will be part of a sub-project on Indian / South East Asian art histories and cultural heritage studies, directed by Gerhard Wolf. Projects, concentrating on the 17th to 21th century, with a focus on visual and media studies, the transformation and relocation of images or artefacts across time, space and media in a broader cultural or transcultural perspective are especially welcome.
The suitable candidate will hold a PhD degree in art history, history, media studies or related fields and have some years of research experience, ideally in international research groups or networks.
This is a full-time position and the salary is approx. 80,000 INR per month plus Annual Bonus, Employee Provident Fund and medical benefits.
Please apply electronically in one pdf.-document with cover letter, CV, copy of PhD degree, project description (max. 4 pages), a writing sample and names of two referees to Prof. Dr. Gehard Wolf (dirwolf@khi.fi.it) by 20 November 2018.
Start date: 1 January 2019
We particularly welcome applications from women as we are working towards increasing the number of women in academic positions. Among equally qualified applicants women will be preferred for appointment. As far as possible, the IBO allows for flexible working hours. Candidates registered as disabled will receive preferential treatment throughout the application process.
A copy of this text as a PDF file is available here.
Directors of the Bilderfahrzeuge project:
Andreas Beyer/Basel (Speaker), Horst Bredekamp/Berlin, Uwe Fleckner/Hamburg, Bill Sherman/London, Gerhard Wolf/Florence/Berlin. Permanent members of the board: Charlotte Klonk/Berlin and Hubert Locher/Marburg.
Cooperating partners:
The Warburg Institute, Max Weber-Stiftung, Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Kunstgeschichtliches Seminar/Warburg-Haus, Universität Hamburg, Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz/Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Kunsthistorisches Seminar Universität Basel.
Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum / Babette Schnitzlein (ed.),
Keilschriftartefakte. Untersuchungen zur Materialität von Keilschriftdokumenten,
Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient, Band 26, Gladbeck 2018.
The primary writing support for cuneiform is the (unbaked) clay tablet, which was inscribed while the clay was still moist. However, one look at the collections of the British Museum and one soon realises that cuneiform was not confined to this medium, but utilizes a number of other supports, such as clay cylinders and prisms or stone slabs and stone ducks. While usually concentrating on the decipherment and study of texts, cuneiform studies have, in recent years, paid more and more attention to the materiality of inscribed objects. Such was the case at a workshop on the materiality of the writing process which took place on 29 April 2013 at the Freie Universität Berlin.
The recently published proceedings of the workshop ‘Keilschriftartefakte. Untersuchungen zur Materialität von Keilschriftdokumenten’ give an idea of the rich potential of this research question. All articles focus on inscribed artefacts made from clay. But coming from different disciplines – archaeology, computer science, cuneiform studies and physics – and being specialized in different periods, the authors approach the subject matter differently. This allows for the presentation of new methods and exiting results. It becomes evident that research on materiality delivers information on a variety of topics, e.g. aesthetics of monuments, transfer of knowledge, bilingualism (Akkadian – Aramaic) and archival practices. The contributions to the richly illustrated book are in English and German, each of which is accompanied by an English abstract. A preview of the contents page is available here: https://pewe-verlag.de/res/liber16-argumentum.pdf
(Please scroll further down for English version)
Bonn, den 21. Juni 2018
Seit 2013 fördert das deutsche Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) das internationale kunsthistorische und kulturwissenschaftliche Verbundprojekt „Bilderfahrzeuge – Warburg’s Legacy and the Future of Iconology“ mit Hauptsitz am Warburg Institute in London, getragen von der Max Weber Stiftung, der Universität Hamburg/Warburg-Haus, der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin sowie der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, in Zusammenarbeit mit der Universität Basel. Nach einer erfolgreichen ersten Laufzeit wird der Verbund jetzt für weitere fünf Jahre bis 2023 mit 6,3 Mio. Euro gefördert.
Der Forschungsverbund hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, die Migration von Bildern, Objekten, Ideen und Texten in transkultureller und diachroner Perspektive zu untersuchen. Maßgeblich bleiben auch in der zweiten Förderlaufzeit die Impulse, die aus der Arbeit des deutsch-jüdischen Kulturwissenschaftlers Aby Warburg (1866-1929) und seiner Kulturwissenschaftlichen Bibliothek gewonnen werden. Dies betrifft vor allem den in den letzten Jahrzehnten zunehmend verfeinerten und angereicherten methodischen Zugriff einer Ikonologie, die sich als Wissenschaft vom Bilde versteht. Neue Akzente für die zweite Förderphase werden dabei über die Schwerpunkte „Politische Ikonologie – Bilder als Akteure des Politischen“, „Globale Bilderfahrzeuge und mobiles Gedächtnis“ sowie „Kunst und Nation. Bilderfahrzeuge und Staatskultur“ gesetzt. Nach einer positiven Begutachtung der Forschungsarbeit der ersten Laufzeit im Herbst 2017 erhält der Verbund ab dem 1. Juli 2018 eine zweite Förderlaufzeit. Dafür stellt das BMBF für weitere fünf Jahre 6,3 Mio. Euro zur Verfügung.
Internationalisierung der Geisteswissenschaften
Mit der Förderung des Projekts „Bilderfahrzeuge“ unterstützt das BMBF junge Geisteswissenschaftlerinnen und -wissenschaftler sowohl auf nationaler als auch auf internationaler Ebene: Es fördert ihren Weg in internationale Forschungszusammenhänge, erhöht ihre Mobilität und verbessert die Zusammenarbeit von Forschungseinrichtungen. Diese Förderung internationaler Kooperationen steht auch im Zusammenhang mit der Strategie der Bundesregierung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Forschung, speziell mit dem Kernziel der Internationalisierung, welches das BMBF im Rahmenprogramm Geistes-, Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften festgelegt hat. Es soll Deutschlands Rolle in der globalen Wissensgesellschaft stärken – durch weltweite Zusammenarbeit in der Forschung, Kooperationen von Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik und die gemeinsame Entwicklung von Hochschulbildung, Forschungs- und Innovationssystemen.
Besondere Verantwortung Deutschlands
Nicht zuletzt stärkt der Verbund die Beziehungen der deutschen und britischen Geisteswissenschaften unter den neuen politischen Gegebenheiten des bevorstehenden BREXIT. Das Engagement entspricht zudem der besonderen historischen Verantwortung Deutschlands gegenüber dem Erbe Aby Warburgs: Die Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg hat Deutschland 1933 verlassen müssen und in London eine neue Heimat gefunden.
Zum Forschungsprojekt
Das Projekt basiert auf der konzeptionellen Grundlage der Metapher der „Bilderfahrzeuge“ des deutsch-jüdischen Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaftlers Aby Warburg. Mit dieser Metapher beschrieb Warburg den Umstand, dass seit dem 15. Jahrhundert unter anderem mit Wandteppichen, Kupferstichen und Tarockkarten, später dann mit Fotografien und Bildtelegrammen, etc. Bildformeln vervielfältigt und an weit entfernte Orte verbreitet werden konnten. Im Verbund wird die Funktion solcher Migrationsprozesse von Bildern, Objekten, Texten und Ideen bei der Formation, Transformation und Interaktion von Kulturen untersucht. Die Forschungsarbeiten umfassen individuell abgefasste Monografien, regelmäßige Workshops, Jahreskongresse sowie eine kontinuierliche Vortragsreihe am Warburg Institute London.
Hauptsitz des von der Max Weber Stiftung partnerschaftlich getragenen Projekts ist das Warburg Institute in London, wo die Mehrzahl der insgesamt fünfzehn Research Associates tätig ist; die Arbeitsplätze der Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter in Deutschland werden am Warburg-Haus der Universität Hamburg und dem Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin angesiedelt. Die verantwortlichen Direktoren des Verbunds sind die Professoren Andreas Beyer (Universität Basel, der zugleich als Sprecher fungiert), Horst Bredekamp (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Uwe Fleckner (Universität Hamburg/Warburg-Haus), Bill Sherman (The Warburg Institute, London) sowie Gerhard Wolf (Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz/Max-Planck-Institut). Ständige Gäste des Direktoriums sind die Professorinnen Charlotte Klonk und Michaela Marek (beide Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) sowie Professor Hubert Locher (Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg)
Webseiten
https://www.bmbf.de/de/geistes-und-sozialwissenschaften-weltweit-744.html
http://iconology.hypotheses.org/
Weitere Informationen und Kontakt:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Beyer (Sprecher)
E-Mail: bilderfahrzeuge@unibas.ch
Prof. Dr. Bill Sherman (Director of the Warburg Institute)
E-Mail: Bill.Sherman@sas.ac.uk
Hanna Pletziger
Referent/in für Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Ausland
Rheinallee 6, 53173 Bonn
Tel.: +49 (0)228 377 86 38
E-Mail: pletziger@maxweberstiftung.de
Bonn, 21st June 2018
Since 2013, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung – BMBF) has generously funded the international research project “Bilderfahrzeuge – Warburg’s Legacy and the Future of Iconology.” The project is dedicated to art historical and cultural historical research. Its central hub is situated at the Warburg Institute in London in collaboration with the Max Weber Stiftung, the Universität Hamburg / Warburg-Haus, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and the Universität Basel. Following on from a highly successful first period of the project, the BMBF will provide a further round of funding for another five years until 2023 with a total of 6.3 million Euros.
The project’s central aim is to investigate the migration of images, objects, texts and ideas across geographical and chronological borders. The work of the German-Jewish cultural and art historian Aby Warburg (1866-1929) and his Library of Cultural Studies (Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg – KBW) remains at the heart of the further period of research. Particularly with regard to the methodological approach of an iconology in the sense of a science of images, as it has been increasingly expanded and refined over the last few decades. New emphases will be set for the second period by the following key aspects: “Political iconology – images as agents in the political sphere,” “Global image vehicles and migrating memories” and “Art and Nation.” Following an evaluation and positive appraisal in autumn 2017 of the work undertaken during the first period of research, a second research period will commence from the 1st of July 2018. For this, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will provide 6.3 million Euros for a further five years.
Internationalisation of the humanities
With their generous support of the “Bilderfahrzeuge” project, the BMBF supports young academics both on a national and international level: facilitating pathways into international research, increasing their mobility and improving the cooperation between European research organisations and institutions.
Particular responsibility of Germany
At a time when the Brexit process is redefining political realities, the project and its members strengthen the interrelations between the German and British humanities and sciences. The support the project mainly based at the Warburg Institute receives by the German government through the BMBF also corresponds to Germany’s particular responsibility towards the legacy of Aby Warburg: The KBW was forced to leave Germany in 1933, finding a new home at the University of London.
The project
The project is based on the conceptual foundation of the term “Bilderfahrzeuge” (literally ‘image vehicle’). This metaphor was conceived by the German-Jewish cultural and art historian Aby Warburg. In doing so, Warburg attempted to describe the way in which image formulas have been multiplied and disseminated through time and to distant places. Within the project, the function of such processes of the migration of images, objects, texts and ideas is examined within the formation, transformation, and interaction of cultures. The research undertaken is conceived in the form of individual monographs, regular workshops and annual conferences, as well as a continuous lecture series which takes place at the Warburg Institute in London.
The majority of the 15 Research Associates, supported in partnership with the Max Weber Stiftung are situated at the central hub of the project at the Warburg Institute in London. In Germany, Research Associates of the project will be placed within the Warburg-Haus of the Universität Hamburg and the Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The directors responsible for the project are Professors Andreas Beyer (Universität Basel, who also functions as the Speaker of the project), Horst Bredekamp (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Uwe Fleckner (Universität Hamburg, Warburg-Haus), Bill Sherman (The Warburg Institute, London) and Gerhard Wolf (Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz/ Max-Planck-Institut). Permanent Guests on the directorial board are Professors Charlotte Klonk and Michaela Marek (both Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Professor Hubert Locher (Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg).
Websites
https://www.bmbf.de/de/geistes-und-sozialwissenschaften-weltweit-744.html
http://iconology.hypotheses.org/
Further information and enquiries:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Beyer (Sprecher)
E-Mail: bilderfahrzeuge@unibas.ch
Prof. Dr. Bill Sherman (Director of the Warburg Institute)
E-Mail: Bill.Sherman@sas.ac.uk
Conference of the International Research Group
‘Bilderfahrzeuge. Aby Warburg’s Legacy and the Future of Iconology’
11am Friday 11th May 2018 – 5pm Saturday 12th May 2018
Warburg Institute
Woburn Square
London WC1H 0AB
Admission free; please register for this event through the Events section of the School of Advanced Study (SAS).
Programme available as a PDF here.
Professor Stephennie Mulder
Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture
University of Texas, Austin
London, 2 May 2018, 5:30 pm
Warburg Institute
Woburn Square
London WC1H 0AB
Admission free; please register for this event through the Events section of the School of Advanced Study (SAS).
If Aby Warburg’s goal was to establish the autonomy of the image, that goal has certainly reached its apotheosis with the rise of digital media. On Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, images reign, and they have become powerful tools of manipulation and persuasion.
The rise and fall of the Viking “Allah” story, which captured headlines around the world for its seductive claims about the discovery of a Viking textile with Arabic writing, was propagated and argued largely by means of a highly manipulated image, but it was also a sequence of images that allowed me to deconstruct false claims about the textile, when I wrote a 60-tweet Twitter thread debunking the story in October of last year. In this image-rich environment, the work of art historians, cultural historians, and media scholars has never been more urgent, as university administrators work to deconstruct and defund the arts, humanities, and traditional paper libraries, thereby restricting our access to the analog history of images, consigning us to the endless matrix of digital duplication. How can the prescience of Warburg’s vision be put to use in the world of social media image construction and circulation, where “truthiness” reigns over “truth”? How does Bilderfahrzeuge work in the tangled networks of the digital age?
The International Research Group “Bilderfahrzeuge: Aby Warburg’s Legacy and the Future of Iconology”, supported by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung invites applications for several full-time research posts (in principle post-doctoral) based at the Warburg Institute in London, the Warburg-Haus in Hamburg and at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin for up to five years from July 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter. A detailed description of the positions can be found below or, for a PDF version, please follow the link here.
The objective of this project is to explore the migration of images, objects, and ideas in a broad historical and geographical perspective. In particular, it seeks to provide a contribution to the history of images which is based on Aby Warburg’s approach and method, rethinking them in the light of new interdisciplinary, international scholarship. The project will reconstruct and develop a rich scholarly approach which addresses the distinctiveness of images while also studying the language in which ideas about transfers between cultures and ideas about images are expressed. A focus also lies on the political impact of global visual culture.
We are particularly interested in applicants with a high level of research skills in art history, transfer phenomena between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, in anthropology, the history of science and comparative literature. Applicants will be expected to have a good knowledge of the languages relevant to their field of study and a good speaking and reading knowledge of English and a second language, preferably German.
All participating institutions are committed to increasing the number of women in academic posts and would therefore particularly welcome applications from women. Where there is a choice between equally qualified male and female applicants, a female applicant will be chosen.
Applications should indicate the alphabetic character of the respective post, include a letter of application with a specific research proposal and indicating candidates’ interests in and suitability for the projects of the research group, a curriculum vitae and publications list, the names of three referees and a writing sample of around 5,000 words of published or unpublished research. Completed applications (electronic submissions only) must be submitted by Monday 30th April 2018.
Interviews will be held in Berlin and London in June or July 2018.
Please send your application to:
Andreas Beyer, Speaker Forschungsverbund “Bilderfahrzeuge”
Cooperating partners:
The Warburg Institute, Max Weber-Stiftung, Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Kunstgeschichtliches Seminar/Warburg-Haus, Universität Hamburg, Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz/Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Kunsthistorisches Seminar Universität Basel.
The directors of the project are:
Andreas Beyer/Basel (Speaker), Horst Bredekamp/Berlin, Uwe Fleckner/Hamburg, Bill Shermann/London, Gerhard Wolf/Florence. Permanent members of the board : Charlotte Klonk/Berlin, Michaela Marek/Berlin and Hubert Locher/Marburg.
Positions:
A: Research position in art history/comparative literature: The formation of Aby Warburg’s language and its impact his sources and his neologisms. Workplace: London.
B: Research position in art history/history of science/anthropology: Warburgs interest in Psychology – investigating his writings and his library. Workplace: London.
C: Research position in pre-Columbian art history with a focus on the migration of images across time, space and across media in and between pre-Columbian cultures and up to the early colonial period. Workplace: Berlin.
D: Research position in Chinese or South East Asian art histories and languages with a focus on migration, transformation and relocation of images and artefacts across time, space and media. Workplace: Berlin.
E: Research position in comparative literature, ethnology or art history regarding mobile / transcultural dynamics of memory with a focus on narratives, material culture and / or images (for example photography). Workplace: London.
F: Research position in art history with a focus on Western or global political or religio-political iconology / agency of political images (early modern times to contemporary). Workplace: Hamburg.
G: Research position in art history with a focus on global migration/provenance of art objects (early modern times to contemporary). Workplace: Hamburg
H: Research position in art history with a focus on Western or global political or religio-political iconology / agency of political images (early modern times to contemporary). Workplace: London.
I: Research Position in art history with a focus on political iconology /
agency of political images in the contemporary context based on a
historical perspective. Workplace: Berlin.
J: Research position in art history focusing on the question of the shaping of a British canon – Arts Council; British Council; Royal and Government Collections. Workplace: London.
K: Research position in art history focusing on “The Englishness of English Art” through non-English eyes – Contributions to a national definition of British art by those coming to it from outside. Workplace: London.
L: Research position in art history, focusing on collections/reception of Western/European art in Non-Western countries. Workplace: Berlin.
This advertisement is subject to the definite approval of the project by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Professor Sven Dupré
Professor and Chair of History of Art, Science and Technology, University of Utrecht
Professor of History of Art, Science and Technology, University of Amsterdam
London, 13 June 2018, 5:30 pm
Warburg Institute
Woburn Square
London WC1H 0AB
Admission free; please register for this event through the Events section of the School of Advanced Study (SAS).
Despite experimentation with X-Ray technology applied to the diagnosis of paintings in German science laboratories in the first decade of the twentieth century, it was only in the 1920s and 1930s that the technology became more widely and systematically applied to art. Alan Burrough’s acquisition of the first and extensive archive of X-ray images of paintings, first of the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was the most important driving force behind this. Burrough’s efforts were inspirational for Kurt Wehlte, the German Maltechniker, who in the 1930s established a laboratory for the X-Ray investigation of paintings in Berlin. In this talk, Professor Dupré will speak about how and in which ways X-ray investigations of paintings were consequential for art history.
