Workshops

Workshop "From imitatio to inventio: Towards a Poetics of Diachronic Co-Creativity"

Project C5 “The Aesthetics of Co-Creativity in Early Modern English Literature” reconstructs an aesthetics of collaborative authorship in early modern English literature that is ‘different’ from concepts influenced by ideas of the author as an individual genius. In the context of our workshop, we would like to integrate a temporal dimension in our analysis of co-creative production processes. When early modern playwrights use sources and revise them in their own textual artefacts, these are not merely instances of intertextuality and imitation; the making of these texts reveals the various stages in their production and the agents involved in them. By moving away from the notion of imitatio towards a shared inventio, we hope and expect to learn more about the aesthetics of co-creativity in early modern English literature.

Downloads: Poster, Programme
Links: Project C5

Workshop "Mogontiacum and the Roman North-Western Provinces II"

Sub-projects A2 and C2 both involve the classification and new evaluation of aesthetic Roman (economic) architecture north of the Alps and their former painted colours. In the workshop “Mogontiacum and the Roman North-Western Provinces II,” taking place on 11 December 2024 at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz, a wide circle of experts will come together to discuss the sub-projects’ latest findings.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Projects A2 and C2

International Workshop "German-French Romanticism. Aestheticisation of the Demonic in Literature around 1800"

The workshop aims to investigate how the popularisation of optic media (magic lantern, fantascope, diorama), especially through Robertson’s phantasmagoria, but also through a “théâtre-pour-les-yeux” (theatre-for-the-eyes, El Nouty), has influenced and transformed theatrical and textual representations. This will be achieved through a comparative approach, considering German and French literature from the period around 1800. The workshop is particularly interested in the visual imaginary as featured in romantic and fantastique literature, including intermedial references between old and new optical media, as well the appearances of demons and ghosts.

Aesthetics and Practice. Advanced Training for School Teachers

Aesthetics determine our everyday reality in many ways. It can therefore prove enriching to not only identify the close connection between art and sociocultural practice, but also to work with students in investigating this connection – to span and connect multiple school subjects in a process of discovery led by this unique perspective. When considering the diverse aestheticisation of our living environments – including those of the students – it is a rewarding goal to discuss what art is, who has a say in what art is, what we need art for, why art can be comforting, calming, exciting or unsettling and to what extent it might even upset us every now and then. Beginning with a concrete artefact, a class can consider what makes a poem, a painting, a movie, a photo or a building into a work of art, as well as what that artefact’s specific aesthetic significance and respective social relevance and, in some cases, controversy consist of.
This advanced one-day training, hosted by teaching methodologists and members of the CRC 1391, aims to interdisciplinarily investigate and analyse artefacts and their aesthetic figures of reflection from the pre-modern to the late modern era in terms of their suitability for school lessons. Participants will have the chance to identify artistic forms and their radii of social impact within their respective aesthetic reciprocal relationships, as well as to learn and discuss concrete possibilities for didactical implementation.

Downloads: Programme
Project Z

International Workshop “Pure Language, Good Form. An Aesthetics of Social Interaction in Early Modern Europe”

At the core of this international and interdisciplinary workshop lies the intertwining of ‘pure language’ and ‘good form’ in early modern European literature. Presentations will be held on 16^th–18^th century German, French, Italian and Neo-Latin literature about conduct and conversation, systematically examining the ‘aesthetics of social interaction’ that develops individually alongside the decorum (appropriateness of style) as a figure of aesthetic reflection. The respective constitutive framework of linguistic and behavioural formation will be the subject of discussion – as well as genres, text types, discourse traditions and their adaptation into particular cultural contexts. Moreover, the workshop will examine the intended audience meant to be addressed by the literary works and describe the international transfer and transformation processes associated with the texts.

Downloads: Poster, Programme
Links: Project A3

Workshop “Materialisations of the divine. Images of the Minne – Images of the Body in Mystical Texts and in Minnesang”

The workshop organised by subproject C3 aims to examine the forms of divine and divine-human bodily representations from a literary and theological perspective. Using examples from the Legatus divinae pietatis, the Flowing Light of the Godhead and the Minnesang, it will analyse how and why the divine is expressed through descriptions and metaphors of the body. It will also explore how the human body becomes the site of the divine materialisation at the textual level. The workshop aims to show how it is precisely the religious claim of the texts, in negotiation with the inherent logics of composition and bodily imagery, that leads to extraordinary aesthetic productivity. Guests are Dr. Linus Ubl (University of Oxford / Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Prof. Dr. Michael Bangert (University of Basel).

Downloads: Poster, Programme
Links: Project C3

Workshop "Intermediality and Representation in Pre-Modern Dutch Culture"

The workshop ‘Intermediality and Representation in Pre-Modern Dutch Culture,’ hosted by the research project C4 on 26th July, will discuss the project’s own topics of performance and the intermedial representation thereof. Presentation topics include graphic prints as well as Latin ceremonial programmes, descriptions and epigrams which were produced in the Netherlands and distributed across Europe. In alteration, presenters from the departments History of Art and Latin Studies will use specific examples to debate the reciprocal relationship between intermediality and representation, thus innovatively reframing the relationship between text and image.

Downloads: Poster, Programme
Links: Project C4

Workshop "Linguaggi e terminologie della moda tra Italiano e Francese" with Paolo D’Achille (Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Accademia della Crusca), Maria Teresa Zanola (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano) and Elisa Altissimi (Università degli Studi Roma Tre)

The three presentations for this workshop will investigate the lexicographical analysis of the field of fashion, which makes up an important component of social etiquette. Unlike most other fields, fashion is subject to rapid changes (including linguistic changes) and demonstrates a close interconnectedness between technical-artistic inner logic and pragmatic-historical everyday logic. The project FLATIF (Fashion Languages and Terminologies across Italian and French, PRIN 2020) works to devise a corpus which compiles Italian and French sources of varying types (magazines, catalogues, etc.).

Workshop with Professor Francesco Rossi (University of Pisa): "Flickering Figures – Romantic Spectrality as a Different Aesthetic"

The workshop on Flickering Figures – Romanitic Spectrality as a Different Aesthetic organised by the Subproject C6 is based on the key concepts of Goethe, Romanticism and Spectrality. In the first half of the workshop we will use the Faust narrative and Goethe’s Faust to explore the crossing of boundaries between the real and the virtual through the concepts of illusion, simulacra and phantasmagoria. In the second half, as part of his lecture ‘Deceptive as the Images of a Magic Lantern: Romantic Spectrality’, Prof. Rossi (University of Pisa) will engage more closely with the relationship between literature and spectrality, in which optical devices become metaphors for a way of looking at things, which is characterised by the fantastical and the uncanny.

Downloads: Poster
Links: Project C6

Workshop “Beyond Inherited Evaluation Regimes” in cooperation with the CRC 1472 ‘Transformations of the popular’

‘Popular is that which is given attention by many.’ Working under this definition, the CRC 1472 ‘Transformations of the Popular’ explores ‘popular’ as a cultural category which surveys a new field of value beyond traditional notions of pretension and quality, thus exposing profound changes in our current understanding of inherited evaluation regimes, particularly in the realm of aesthetic value. The CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics, in its investigation of pre-modern acts and artefacts, also reaches beyond the traditional aesthetic evaluation regimes that derive primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries and have become dominant in European contexts. It seeks to reveal, in historical depth, alternatives to the current, still powerful aesthetic evaluation regimes – alternatives which may also be of interest today.
This workshop will open up for discussion the points of contact between the two research programmes in their overturning of traditional aesthetic evaluation regimes. In doing so, analogies as well as differences in the research groups’ confrontations with such evaluation regimes will be discussed in equal measure.

Downloads: Programme
Project Z

Workshop with Conrad Fischer (Würzburg University): "Ghostly Apparitions and the Media – The Invention the Projection and the Transformation of Appearance"

The workshop ‘Ghostly apparitions and the Media – The Invention of Projection and the Transformation of Appearance’, which is organised by sup-project C6 is guided by the key concepts of transformation and ambiguity as well as machines and media. In the first part of the workshop, through the inclusion of contemporary discourses on ghosts (Ludwig Lavaters On Ghosts [1539]) and media (Athanasius Kirchers’ Ars magns Lucis et Umbrae [1646 / 1671]), the question of the ambiguity of ghostly apparitions and their (staged) appearances will be addressed. Andreas Gryphius’ (1616–1664) tragedies will form the starting point. In the second part, Conrad Fischer (Würzburg University) will present the dissertation project he completed in 2023 Ghosts and Phantoms in Andreas Grypius’ Dramas in the framework of a Lecture on ‘Ghost from the Grave’ as a poetic ambiguity machine in Grypius’ Tragedies’.

Downloads: Poster
Links: Project C6

International Workshop "Studying Coin Finds. Methodology and Digital Approaches"

The workshop is dedicated to the methodological approach of the CRC 1391 with regard to the heterological and autological status of research into ancient coins and their significance in their contemporary environments. Archeological case studies and the latest digital analysis methods will be at the forefront of discussion in order to assess the material and respective context.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project B2

Workshop “Ekphrasis in the Imperial Era and Late Antiquity”

The term ‘ekphrasis’ conceals a complex concept: it does not entail a simple description of an object or a work of art, rather, it also encompasses the aesthetic perception and cognitive processing of them. The production of texts which engage with poetic forms and modes of ekphrasis has intensified since Hellenistic Poetry, exhibiting reflection on the respective staging of the relationship between evidence, aesthetic perception, and imagination.
With presentations dealing with various literary genres, in both prose (from historiography to rhetoric, to the novel and prose descriptions) and poetry (from the epigram to the epic and long ekphrastic poems, which are the main subject of inquiry in Research Project C1 of the CRC Different Aesthetics), and covering a period spanning the 1^st century BC to the 7^th century AD, the workshop will facilitate exchange and dialogue between academics from Tübingen on current research and ongoing projects on ekphrasis.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project C1

Workshop “Mogontiacum and the Roman North-Western Provinces”

Roman stone architecture represents a unique treasure of cultural heritage, which bears witness to the early forms of urban life in Germany. Until now, however, most of this treasure has been neither documented nor analysed. Using Roman Mainz as a starting point, the workshop will discuss new research approaches which are being developed within the framework of various research groups of CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics and the Academy Programme Research Project ‘disiecta membra’, among others. These new approaches focus specifically on the aesthetics of architecture in the north-western provinces, a space which has thus far been marginalised in research, and the interplay between autological and heterological aspects.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Projects A2 and C2

Workshop “Transparency. Aesthetic and political practices of hand drawing, 1400 to the present day”

Object session: For a better future: Networks of pastel painting (Organization and realization: Iris Brahms, sub-project C2, CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics and Valerie Kobi, Université de Neuchâtel)

The workshop, organised as a cooperation between sub-project B04 "The Knowledge of Art. Aesthetics and Semantics of Figurative Imagery in the Renaissance" of the CRC 980 Episteme in Motion and the sub-project C02 "Aesthetics – Canon – Criticism. North Alpine Art in archaeological and art historical research" of the CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics is dedicated to the question of the relationship between drawing and transparency. To what extent is transparency tested, negotiated and reflected upon in aesthetic and/or political practices? How do the inscriptions on paper behave, do (claim) markings in the medium of the ephemeral or the open sometimes contradict each other? Insofar as drawings refer to transparency in material terms, but are also a field for intermedial configurations (text, lines, etc.) and figural representation, the question arises as to what role materials and modes of perception play. Which concepts and discourses are invoked, which dimensions open up? – We deliberately span the time frame from the early days of hand drawing to the present day in order to differentiate possible continuities or uncover opposing positions.

Downloads: Poster, Programme
Links: Project C2

Interdisciplinary Workshop “The Tübingen Amazonenschlacht”

At the heart of the interdisciplinary event organised in collaboration with the CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics (Research Group C4) is Lucas Vosterman’s copperplate engraving of the Amazonenschlacht, published in 1623 after Peter Paul Rubens. Found in the Prints and Drawings Collection at the Tübingen Institute of Art History with dimensions of 84.4 x 117.7 cm, the work is not only the largest print of its time, but also acts as an excellent witness to early modern printing practice, which was especially characterised by technical innovation, multiple authorship and intermediality. Against this backdrop and in the presence of the original, questions of object biography and conservation will be discussed at the workshop alongside art historical and philosophical questions with the aim of outlining the multi-faceted interdependencies between the autological and heterological dimensions of print production in the 17th century.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project C4

Workshop “Pliny’s Legacy: Two Millennials of Reading the Naturalis Historia”

In celebration of Plinius’ 2000th birthday, the workshop “Pliny’s Legacy: Two Millennials of Reading the Naturalis Historia” aims to reflect on the literary and cultural importance of Pliny’s works in antiquity as well as later centuries. The contributions include considerations on the following questions: How is authorship presented in the text? In what way does authorship specify itself in connection with art as expression of human knowledge and as part of nature? How important was Pliny’s text for other authors taking part in the history of nature, culture, art, and technology? Who read Pliny throughout the centuries, which texts and why? What new information can we gather today by reading the Naturalis Historia?

Downloads: Flyer, Poster
Links: Project B1

Panel at the HECAA@30: Environments, materials, and futures in the eighteenth century

Object session: For a better future: Networks of pastel painting (Organisation and realisation: Iris Brahms, project C2, CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics and Valerie Kobi, Université de Neuchâtel)

In the eighteenth century, pastel painting emerged as a brand-new technique, not least because of the time’s ever-expanding global trade networks and the production of synthetic pigments. The trade networks of pigments used for manufactured pastel sticks span several continents and, since pastel painting relied on the much earlier invention of paper in Asia, this resource’s mobility has always linked local memories with global trade. Memory is at the same time the aim of the portraits, which is the main subject of pastel painting. What results from this is a close intertwining between material and content, between regional and global exchange, and between present and past. These synergies, that is our hypothesis, radiate into the future, making pastel painting a highly innovative as well as critical medium, with the potential to shape our collective future. Additionally, debates about various modes of pastel painting were developing out of vital networks within different disciplines that encompassed both scientific issues, such as optics, and the political representation of courtiers as well as citizens at the threshold of democracy. In this sense, the panel will introduce new historical and methodological approaches to pastel painting and especially address these concepts against the background of social injustices.

Links: Project C2

Interdisciplinary Workshop "Printed Papers. Incunabula and Broadsheets in the University Library in Tübingen"

The university library in Tübingen offers access to an array of fascinating incunabula and broadsheets. This interdisciplinary workshop is the first of its kind and aims to look at all of them in detail. Quickly after Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press, illustrations appeared more commonly in printed books. The use of woodcarvings in relief printing opened up the opportunity to combine text and image more efficiently and even include maps and graphs to add more character to a given text. The printed book also meant that works in Latin as well as the vernacular were distributed more widely.
The workshop’s aim is to survey the texts for aspects of the media revolution in the late-medieval culture of books and knowledge. The seminar is the result of an ongoing partnership between the department of manuscripts and historical prints of the university’s library, the institute of art history and the German department. The workshop will prepare the culmination of the cooperation: An exhibition at the museum of the university Tübingen (MUT), that will be displayed from April until July 2024. The project is supported by the CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics and more specifically subproject B04 “Ästhetik der Kombinatorik” (“Aesthetic Reflection”).

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project B4

Workshop with Judith Utz (Paris-Lodron University Salzburg) "Transcultural Materialities. Medieval Bronze Objects in Transfer"

For the last two decades, transfer processes, especially in the medieval Mediterranean, have attracted increasing interest. However, material particularities of these objects have only partially been taken into account. For example, monumental bronzes present an exceptional case. On the one hand, they would be difficult to transport due to their sheer weight but were still coveted as gifts and trophies because of their material value. The workshop aims to highlight and discuss transcultural aspects of materiality(-ies), based on the semantics and aesthetics of bronze.

Where can we identify differences and similarities in the perception of the material in different cultural and religious contexts? How were monumental bronzes actually translocated and what were the reasons for the transfer? What can be gained from approaching transcultural phenomena via the material or by focussing on transcultural materialities? In addition to the transfer of bronze objects, the workshop hopes to make comparisons with other cases which centre other materials, such as the transfer of knowledge and technologies far beyond the Mediterranean region.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project A6

Workshop “Not merely beautiful…The Different Aesthetics of Antique Coins”

The aesthetics of Greek and Roman coins, both in terms of their physical appearance and their inherent functional use as a means of communication, differ fundamentally from those of their modern counterparts. This workshop takes this as a starting point to explore the ‘different aesthetics’ of ancient coins and their significance in both antique and modern contexts. The themes used to outline the most important perspectives within the ancient world, and in modern reception, include iconography, function, materiality, representation, and presentation. The broad spectrum makes one thing clear: the beauty and uniqueness of these objects truly lay, and still lies, in the eye of the beholder.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project B2

Doctoral workshop "Urban Aesthetics. Design strategies in public spaces"

Behind the design of public architecture in antiquity, there lie a variety of strategies that refer to contemporary design concepts and social practices. Through these, trends within the aesthetic shaping of different spaces of action can be observed in detail. This aesthetic process will be explored in a doctoral workshop, which will simultaneously provide a networking opportunity for early career researchers.

Downloads: Call for Papers (German), Flyer, Poster
Links: Project A2

Workshop "miklu meira óhljóð en frá megi segja: Narratorial Potential and Boundaries in Old Norse Literature"

Our project focuses on the narrative voice, its self-presentation and its imprint on the narratives, aspects that have not yet received sufficient scholarly attention. We work from the premise that the narrative voice employs a set of short narratorial comments in order to select, structure and evaluate the narrative as well as to connect it to the extradiegetic level. Not only do the narratorial comments serve the narrative arrangement of the saga, but they also reflect on the narratorial process. Thus, they offer brief insights into the aesthetic self-perception of these literary texts. During the workshop we wish to widen our perspective and explore what narratorial voices are responsible for the narrative composition of different saga genres and beyond. Where do these narrative authorities manifest in the texts? How do they present themselves, and to what extent are they self-reflective regarding the narratorial process? In addition, we are interested in exploring whether a diachronic change can be identified regarding the narrative composition and the aesthetic self-presentation of a narrative in its various manuscripts. Similar questions arise with regard to compilations: Are these extensive works united by a single narrative composition that reflects the narratorial taste of the scribe/compiler or does each text feature an individual design? Do texts which were translated into Old Norse keep the narrative composition of the original or adopt an Old Norse narrative design? In short, we aim to discuss which narratorial voices are primarily responsible for the narrative composition, how they go about this and to what extent these narrative designs share features and differ, respectively.

Downloads: Invitation, Programme
Links: Project B5

Workshop "Digital Humanities and Aesthetics: Analysis and Production of Aesthetic Artefacts through Digital Processes"

The starting point of this workshop is the digital humanities project "Characteristics of Aesthetic Reflection: Systematic Annotation and Quantitative Analysis" within the CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics. So far, the project has been primarily concerned with the annotation of different textual phenomena and their function, such as the annotation of terms and concepts of purism, or of narratorial comments in the Sagas of the Icelanders. However, over the course of these projects, we have repeatedly encountered questions surrounding the methods and systems of applying digital analysis to aesthetic phenomena. We therefore invite projects in the fields of literature, art and music, to explore the possibilities, boundaries and/ or challenges in studying aesthetics within the digital humanities. The workshop will be divided into two parts: in the first part there will be presentations of concrete projects and methods from an academic perspective, while in the second part various artists will present works in which digital tools and methods play a role.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project B6

Workshop "Aspects of Occasional Literature. Continuity and Change in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries"

The production of texts, both literary texts (poems) and speeches, in reaction to ritualised social occasions such as births, marriages and deaths was a central paradigm in early modern production aesthetics. The tradition of rhetoric formulated norms and categories for these. In the 18^th century, the concept of occasional literature faced a crisis as an opposing conceptualisation of autonomous literature emerged.

The starting point of our workshop is the observation that the rhetorical norms and practices of addressed literature were in evidence until the 19^th century, although occasional literature appeared outdated from a poetic perspective and could even be deemed marginalised within aesthetic discourse.  We would therefore like to further explore the potential of this discrepancy between theory and practice, the persistence of occasional literature in the face of contemporary censure around 1800, and the simultaneous evolution of occasional literature over the course of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The workshop is organised by Prof. Dietmar Till and Katharina Geißler in collaboration with Dr. Maximilian Bach (University of Freiburg).

Links: Project A5

Workshop "ars and natura in the first century AD"

In the workshop "ars and natura in the first century AD", we shall comprehensively consider the relationship between art and nature in the early imperial period. We hope to develop a better understanding of the literary context of Naturalis Historia, especially contemporary concepts of ars and natura. How is 'nature' defined in Latin texts of the time (e.g. Plinius, Columella, Quintilian) and their predecessors (e.g. Varro, Cicero, Vitruv, Horace...)? How is the relationship between 'nature' and 'art' conceptualised? Are there micro-narratives and poetological positions in other literature and what function might these have? To what extent does artistic production at the time reflect an abstract concept of nature or a close relationship between nature and art? How is the audience envisioned and what aspects are focussed on? Guests at the workshop include: Dr. Eva Noller (Universität Heidelberg), Dr. Jan Stellmann (Universität Tübingen), Linda Forstmann (Universität Freiburg), Dr. Sara Fascione (Universität Gießen), Dr. Chiara Ballestrazzi (FU Berlin), Laila Dell’Anno (University of Cambridge).

Downloads: Book of Abstracts, Flyer, Poster
Links: Project B1

Workshop "Early Modern Book Production: Co-Creative Specialists"

The work involved in early modern book production was distributed over a multitude of agents: from scribes, papermakers and typefounders to printers, bookbinders, editors, publishers, and booksellers, a great number of specialists were involved in various “social transactions” (Marotti 1995) between their respective fields. But even before the printed book came into being, other specialists participated in social interaction: compilers of miscellanies as much as individual authors, frequently specializing in specific genres, were involved in poetic exchanges and dialogues, revisions, corrections, and translations. Woodcutters and engravers provided illustrations – specialists who contributed both to the ‘ideal’ and the ‘physical’ production of books. In our workshop, we would like to learn more about these agents in the “social textuality” (Marotti 1995) of the final printed product. In particular, we want to learn more about the relationship between specialization and collaboration: what did the social transactions between the various agents look like? to what degree do specialization and collaboration exclude or enrich each other? Can the participation of specialists in the production of books be seen as a model of collaboration and co-creativity?

Downloads: Book of Abstracts, Poster, Programme, Programme poster
Links: Project C5

Workshop "Humanist Networks"

The prints from the workshop of the Haarlem engraver and publisher Hendrick Goltzius (1559-1617) combine aesthetic ambition and technical virtuosity with a pronounced concern for humanistic erudition. This workshop aims to highlight cooperation between humanists and artists and to examine Goltzius' engravings in relation to the knowledge institutions of Haarlem's urban culture (Latin school, rhetoric chambers, St. Luke's Guild) as well as in the context of the artist and humanist networks that constituted the European Republic of Letters.

Downloads: Poster, Programme
Links: Project C4

Workshop "LICHT.GESTALTEN. The relation between theology and aesthetics in Mechthild of Magdeburg and Master Eckhart against the background of the metaphysics of light"

The workshop 'LICHT.GESTALTEN. The relation between theology and aesthetics in Mechthild of Magdeburg and Master Eckhart against the background of the metaphysics of light', organized by project C3, explores the theological aesthetics of light in Mechthild’s The Flowing Light of the Godhead and Master Eckhart’s vernacular sermons. The first part of the meeting will deal with the concept of light in the metaphysical tradition, while the second will be devoted to exploring the motif in Mechthild and Master Eckhart in particular. The workshop’s participants include: PD Dr. Wiebke-Marie Stock (Philosophy, University of Bonn/University of Notre Dame), Prof. Dr. Volker-Henning Drecoll (Church History, University of Tübingen), Prof. Dr. Uta Störmer-Caysa (German Studies, University of Mainz), Prof. Dr. Beatrice Trînca (German Studies, FU Berlin/University of Heidelberg) and Prof. em. Dr. Dr. Michael Eckert, (Fundamental Theology/Philosophy of Religion, University Tübingen).

Downloads: Exposé, Programme
Links: Project C3

Workshop with Prof. Dr. Stefani Engelstein (Duke University) "Aesthetic Encounters and The Earth’s Transformations as Transmigration in Karoline von Günderrode"

Around 1800, theories of encounter in the form of stimulus and response structured understandings of dynamic processes and self-identity in Naturphilosophie, medicine, literature, and aesthetics. With other authors in this tradition in mind, such as Schelling, Novalis, and influential physician Andreas Röschlaub, this workshop will examine several short works of Karoline von Günderrode. Günderrode’s pieces reflect on aesthetic experience, poetic production, encounters with the past and with other cultures, and the generative metamorphoses of the earth itself in terms of stimulus, influence, awakening, and productivity. In what we might think of as an example of such encounter, Günderrode also speculates on these metamorphoses in the context of Hindu theories of the transmigration of souls. While the workshop will be interdisciplinary, participants need not be familiar in advance with multiple disciplines or with Günderrode’s work beyond the readings.

Downloads: Poster

Workshop "Historical Semantics – Theory and Application II" together with the CRC 1369 Cultures of Vigilance

The workshop by project B3 ‘Semantics of the aesthetic in German literature of the Middle Ages’ focusses on recent as well as established concepts in historical semantics. As these concepts are also important for Prof. Dr. Beate Kellner und Dr. Susanne Reichlin (LMU München) and their CRC-project ‘Vigilance and Attentiveness. The Literary Dynamics of Self-Observation and the Observation of Others in German Poetry in the Middle Ages’, project B3 has invited colleagues from the Munich-based CRC 1369 Cultures of Vigilance to the workshop. For both the Munich and the Tübingen project, the question of how approaches taken from historical semantics can be effectively applied to literature/poetry from the high medieval period is highly relevant – therefore, this issue will be the main focus of the workshop.

Links: Project B3

Workshop "Iconographies in Motion. Coins, Coin Types, and Communication"

Because of their coin images, Greek and Roman coins are among the most visual material culture of the ancient world. In this workshop, the conditions and mechanism for the change or continuation of coin iconographies in ancient coin series will be discussed against the backdrop of their function and meaning as communicative tool in society.
In a diachronic perspective, phenomena stretching from the archaic period shall be confronted with developments during the Roman imperial period. At the same time, the conference will embrace studies on ancient coinage and coin iconographies from the central and eastern Mediterranean.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project B2

Workshop with Dr. Vera Henkelmann (University of Erfurt) "Ästhetik des Lichts. Leuchter im mittelalterlichen Kirchenraum"

Links: Project A6

Workshop with Prof. Dr. Cornelia Logemann (LMU Munich) "Woven Personifications: On the Interplay of Tapestry and Text in the 15th Century"

Tapestries with virtually life-size personifications were a familiar sight in the 15th and 16th centuries: the more personifications populated the compositions, the more precious the objects must have been. The medium itself attracted so much attention that even chroniclers, especially those at the court of Burgundy, painstakingly documented which cycles of tapestries were hung up at grand festivities. For the themes presented in the tapestries’ images could also be seen as comments on the events. While highly elaborate tapestries as were made for example in Arras and Tournai catered to their buyers’ need for self-representation on the one hand, even the technique in itself conveyed the impression of extreme valuableness, an effect which was also made use of by literature. As such, when the anonymous text titled Trois Tapisseries de Turquie describes intricate tapestries with numerous personifications as allegorical tableaus, this is not to be taken for a description of real artefacts or a draft for tapestries. Rather, it is a technique – employed for example in René d’Anjou’s Livre du coeur d’amour espris and similar writings – for capturing the attention of a group of readers who appreciated and collected precious tapestries.

By the same token, the tapestries which survived from this period remarkably often treat allegorical themes, suggesting that they are preceded by a concise textual basis. As the originator, the author and creator of the inventory of allegorical figures is frequently included in the tapestry, for example in an allegorical stag chase in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. To regard the tapestries solely as illustrations of preceding literary texts, however, is inadequate. The contribution seeks to explore these iconotexts, which can be found in astonishing numbers in the Franco-Flemish region around 1500 and on which only rudimentary research has been done so far.

Links: Project B4

Workshop on Digital Data Analysis

The workshop on digital data analysis hosted by project B6 is aimed at all sub-projects working with annotations as well as any interested CRC member.

First and foremost, the workshop’s aim is to jointly reflect on the various objectives of the individual annotation processes. Based on this, we will discuss which methods are suitable for analyzing and visualizing the annotated data. In the second part of the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to apply the methods directly to their annotations in a practical exercise. We therefore ask you to bring your own computers with your annotated data along to the workshop.

Links: Project B6

Workshop "Architecture and Sculptures from Meninx: The Roman Forum as Aesthetic Economic Space"

In the workshop 'Architecture and Sculptures from Meninx: The Roman Forum as Aesthetic Economic Space' hosted by project A2, the results of the research unit on ancient economic architecture and sculptures on Djerba, which has been part of the CRC since 2019, will be presented and discussed. Drawing on the architectural parts of the ancient urban space which are visible above ground as well as on unpublished building elements and sculptures from Meninx, the speakers will provide new insights into the aesthetics of ancient urban areas which are profoundly influenced by the economy. The workshop is organized by Prof. Johannes Lipps (Classical Archaelogy, JGU) together with the CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics (University of Tübingen).

Downloads: Programme
Links: Project A2

Workshop with Dr. Joanna Olchawa (University of Frankfurt) "Bronze. Materialästhetik und -semantik im Mittelalter"

Bronze is a special and also an especially demanding material. Depending on the composition of the alloy, different shades of colour and effects of glossiness can be created, the material can be gilded or given an artificial patina. Due to all these possibilities and the complex techniques tied to them, the material was held in high esteem and endowed with a wide range of meanings.

The workshop, which will take place as part of project A6, is dedicated to the practices of the technical procedures in the Middle Ages (ranging from the manufacturing of the alloy to its finishing) and to the perspectives on bronze offered by material aesthetics and material semantics in a transcultural context. Furthermore, it wants to explore the potential which a ‘materiology’ holds for medieval art history.

Links: Project A6

Workshop with Prof. Dr. David Scott Kastan (Yale University, Mercator-Fellow of the CRC 1391) "What Does ‘Based on’ Mean? Shakespeare, Source Study and the Idea of Originality"

Recognizing or admitting what a work of literature is “based on” is not in any way to denigrate the new work but is to acknowledge the very condition of its writing. To discover what a literary work has been based on is to see where a plot, a character, a style, an image, a phrase, came from; to discover what influenced or inspired what offers itself as original (and that may indeed imagine itself to be). It is to allow the terms and the structures of cultural continuity to become visible. It does, however, also force a rethinking of what we mean by creativity. It undoes the fantasy of radical originality in its recognition that “nothing comes from nothing,” as King Lear said (King Lear, 1.1.90). And even that phrase came from something: its Latin form, ex nihilo nihil fit, can be traced back to Lucretius, and then back even further to Greek philosopher Parmenides; and no doubt the phrase, or at least the idea, existed in texts and even languages now lost. Literature always comes from something.

The workshop is designed to allow us to work together to think through the idea of indebtedness and of originality, recognizing the inevitably social and in some senses collaborative nature of all artistic and intellectual work. 

Workshop with Prof. Dr. Irene Rapp and Laura Bon (CRC 833, Tübingen) "Personifikation und Metapher. Linguistische und literaturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven"

In this workshop, which is open to anyone who is interested, the members of project B4 will meet with linguists Prof. Dr. Irene Rapp and Laura Bon from the Tübingen-based CRC 833 The Construction of Meaning in order to analyze literary representations of personifications on a micro level.

Links: Project B4

Workshop with Jessica Savage (Princeton) "Living Virtues and Charity Trees: Psalm Personifications in Action"

In her contribution entitled ‘Living Virtues and Charity Trees: Psalm Personifications in Action’, Jessica Savage (Princeton) deals with personifications of Charity in connection with Psalms 36 and 111. Moreover, Jessica Savage will give the members of project B4 and their guests an idea of her work on the Index of Medieval Art as related to personifications, addressing the issues of classification and naming that arise when cataloguing and categorizing.

Downloads: Exposé
Links: Project B4

International reading group with Dr. Eva Falaschi (SNS Pisa)

In the context of project B1, Ms Dr. Falaschi (SNS Pisa) is offering a digital reading group on Pliny the Elder and his monumental work Naturalis historia. Our joint reading will focus on the books on mineralogy (NH 33–37); and we are primarily concerned with the question of what function art has within natural history. The text will be provided in the Latin original and in translation (Latin-German or Latin-English) before each session.

Links: Project B1

Workshop "Ästhetische Experimentierfelder. Kreative Aneignung in der Antwerpener Kunst des 16. Jahrhunderts"

Using individual examples of 16^th-century works from the Antwerp area, the workshop is dedicated to the complex artistic practice of creative appropriation and its relevance for cultural history. The contemporary artistic production, which was characterized by a multitude of innovations, is regarded as a field of aesthetic experimentation within which political, religious and art theoretical discourses were negotiated in an intense manner.

Downloads: Programme
Links: Project C2

Workshop "Knowledge, Order, Narration. Animals as figures of reflection in pre-modern literature"

The workshop focusses on literary animals in the pre-modern period, taking into account the way that the literary text intersects with the animal’s embeddedness in everyday living environments. It discusses in what way animals in medieval and early modern literature function as figures in which discourses of knowledge, concepts of order, aesthetics and poetology are reflected.

Organized by: Marion Darilek, M.A. (University of Tübingen) and Dr. Hannah Rieger (University of Cologne)

Downloads: Programme
Links: Project B3

Workshop with Dr. Heike Schlie (University of Salzburg) "Körper und Affekt der Personifikation im Bildvollzug"

In this workshop, we will deal with Giotto’s personifications of the virtues and vices in the Cappella degli Scrovegni (Padua). Based on Heike Schlie’s thoughts on the realization of images, we will discuss questions concerning corporeality and affectedness. Participants will be provided with the material needed for preparation (images, texts) about a week before the workshop.

Links: Project B4

Workshop with Prof. Dr. Caroline Emmelius (University of Düsseldorf) "frouwe minne, frouwe beschouwunge, frouwe brut: Personifikationen im 'Fließenden Licht‘"

The Fließende Licht der Gottheit (Flowing Light of Divinity) uses a broad range of personifications to portray the ascent of the human soul towards God. In this workshop, the literary strategies of selected personifications shall be explored through intensive textual analysis. 

Links: Projects B4 und C3

Workshop "Historical Semantics – Theory and Application I" together with the CRC 1369 Cultures of Vigilance

The workshop by project B3 ‘Semantics of the aesthetic in German literature of the Middle Ages’ focusses on recent as well as established concepts in historical semantics. As these concepts are also important for Prof. Dr. Beate Kellner und Dr. Susanne Reichlin (LMU München) and their CRC-project ‘Vigilance and Attentiveness. The Literary Dynamics of Self-Observation and the Observation of Others in German Poetry in the Middle Ages’, project B3 has invited colleagues from the Munich-based CRC 1369 Cultures of Vigilance to the workshop. For both the Munich and the Tübingen project, the question of how approaches taken from historical semantics can be effectively applied to literature/poetry from the high medieval period is highly relevant – therefore, this issue will be the main focus of the workshop.

Links: Project B3

Workshop with Prof. Dr. Evelyn Gius on Annotation

Five projects from five different disciplines share a topic: annotation. What are similarities, given all differences? Where do issues overlap, and where can shared conceptual basics be found? These (and more) questions will be addressed by projects A3, B3, B5 and C5, chaired by B6 during a workshop in October. Prof. Dr. Evelyn Gius (TU Darmstadt), an expert in the field of (digital) annotation will also be present. She will give a talk on the topic and enrich our ensuing discussion based on her experience in annotation projects.

Links: Project B6

Workshop "Abstraktum, rhetorische Figur, Körper. Zur Beschaffenheit der Personifikation"

The project B4 meets with Mariam Hammami (University of Tübingen) and all  interested parties to take a look at medieval and early new age personifications under theoretical and functional point of views. 

Links: Project B4

International Workshop "Kamingespräche zur antiken Münzästhetik zwischen Eigenlogik und Funktion"

The workshop, a meeting of Project B2 open to everyone who is interested, examines the dynamic interplay between aspects of form and function in the iconography of ancient coins, aiming at grasping the complex aesthetic, medial and communicative relationship between production, emitters and consumers/recipients. For the project ‘Impressing Images’ within the CRC 1391 ‘Different Aesthetics’, this offers new perspectives which shall be discussed among an international panel of experts.

Downloads: Flyer
Links: Project B2

"Ästhetik – Materialität – Wissen": Third Meeting of the Research Network "Early Modern Studies in Southwest Germany"

Since 2017, the research network 'Early Modern Studies in SouthWest Germany' (initiated by Sandra Richter, Jörg Robert, Dirk Werle) has developed into an international and interdisciplinary discussion forum for researchers focusing on early modern literature, art and culture in Baden-Württemberg and beyond. The research network stimulates scientific networking, the development of joint research projects and the promotion of young researchers. On Friday, 12/06/2019, 10:30–19:00, the third meeting of the research network will take place in Tübingen in the Evangelische Stift Tübingen (Klosterberg 2, 72074 Tübingen). Focussing on the topics ‘Aesthetics – Materiality – Knowledge’, the full-day conference will present current research activities and publications in the research on the early modern period. The meeting in Tübingen will be held in cooperation with the newly established collaborative research centre 1391 Different Aesthetics.

The meeting focusses especially on connecting individual projects from the CRC 933 ‘Material Text Cultures’ (Project B13), the CRC 1369 ‘Cultures of Vigilance’ (Project A01) and the CRC ‘Different Aesthetics’ (Project C6).

Downloads: Poster, Flyer
Links: Project C6

Workshop "Translating Estius"

The Latin epigrams by the Dutch humanist Franco Estius (1586-1594; fl.) which can be found on copperplate engravings from the workshop of Hendrick Goltzius are the basis and the starting point for the philological unit of project C4. Not only do they make use of the intertextual possibilities that the copperplate engraving holds as media combination – the engravings also clearly embrace the concept of collaborative authorship when including both the signature of the word artist and the visual artist in the prints. In the workshop ‘Translating Estius’, project C4 seeks to discuss how to translate Estius and how to deal with media differences with all interested researchers. Input is expected to be given by Alexander Estis (University of Zürich), Walter Froleyks (Kleve), Katharina Ost (University of Tübingen) and Uta Schmidt-Clausen (VHS Bonn).

Downloads: Poster, Flyer
Links: Project C4

Workshop with Prof. Dr. Henrike Manuwald "Vorstellung und Diskussion der Plattform: Muße/muoze digital – mittelalterliche Varianten der Muße"

In the context of project B3, Prof. Dr. Henrike Manuwald (University of Göttingen) is presenting the platform ‘Muße/muoze digital – mittelalterliche Varianten der Muße’. The platform was created within the project C1 ‘Paradoxes of Leisure in the Middle Ages. Paradigms of Active Inactivity in Courtly and Mystical Literature’, in the first funding phase of the CRC 1015 ‘Otium’ in Freiburg. Taking this concrete example, we discuss the pre-considerations and steps involved in setting up a digital platform which presents the results of research on historical semantics. Moreover, we ask which opportunities and limitations such a platform holds.

Links: Project B3

Workshop "Annotation"

The workshop brings together the projects A3, B3, B5 and C5 to discuss the progress in their annotations and the workflow of annotating texts under the guidance of B6. It provides an opportunity to explain the respective schedule for each project as well as to introduce and test the tools for annotating. The aim of this workshop is moreover to come up with first approaches towards annotation guidelines.

Links: Projects A3, B3, B5, B6, C5