Newsletter SS20

Activities in the summer semester 2020

© Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Abteilung Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung, Foto: Pauline Krautkrämer
Lisa Braun, unterwegs auf den Spuren der Retabel Ivo Strigels in den Schweizer Bergen. © Anna D‘Avino
Denise Madsack fotografierte den Hinterreifen von Gottfried Bechtolds «Betonporsche», der auf dem Parkdeck der Universität Konstanz zu finden ist und Startpunkt des Seminar- Spaziergangs war. © Denise Madsack
Elisa von Minnigerode sieht in den jüngst intensivierten digitalen Arbeitsmethoden die Möglichkeit, neue vernetzte Kommunikationsformen miteinander zu erlernen. © Anna Katharina Thaler
Anna Katharina Thaler nutzte in diesem Semester die Möglichkeit, an internationalen Veranstaltungen online teilzunehmen, ohne lange Reisen anzutreten. © Elisa von Minnigerode
V.E. Mandrij beschäftigten während des Lockdowns auch Fragen zur Rolle des Kunst- und Kulturbetriebs in der Gesellschaft. © V.E. Mandrij

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Dear members of the Graduate Research Programme Changing Frames, dear readers,

this semester turned out to be more different than anyone could have thought: As a pandemic, the coronavirus paralyzed all plans for research trips, international projects and big events. Like many institutions and teams, our members of the Changing Frames Programme had to change their way of researching, communicating and working as a group. In order to make a virtue out of necessity, we decided to join the global acceptance and usage of videoconferencing tools and invited guests, who, normally, would have been too far away to join our meetings. In three sessions led by our doctoral students, we had fruitful talks and interesting discussions with Prof. Dr. Thijs Weststeijn, Utrecht University, Dr. Anna Moraht-Fromm, expert for cultural and image studies, Berlin, and Dr. Stephanie Leitch, Florida State University. We enjoyed these sessions very much and would like offer our warmest thanks to our guests and everyone who participated. In this semester, where the professional and the personal sphere are interrelating more than ever, we have decided to use a different format for our newsletter. In the German version, you will find personal statements from each of our doctoral candidates covering subjects such as the coronavirus, teaching, the digital, and practical experiences. As an addition our new coordination team of two, Dr. Tilly Laaser and Dr. Tanja Klemm, are presenting their research. As prominent as it is, not everything in this summer semester was about the coronavirus. We happily welcomed Dr. Anna Moraht-Fromm to our team of mentors, who will be supporting the project of Lisa Braun. Also, our member Christiane Kritzer has decided to pursue a different path of life and to leave the Changing Frames programme. However, Christiane will remain in close contact with the programme, and the team wishes her all the best for her future. As a new
team member, we welcome Charlotte Hoffmann, conservator from Cologne, who will complete the doctoral researchers’ team from now on.

On behalf of our team, we send you best wishes and hope you stay safe!

Denise Madsack and Elisa von Minnigerode

«In 2020, museums closed their doors without certainty when they could be opened again. In the face of this disaster for the world, I reflected upon the utility of my work as an art historian. Researchers and scholars working in museums and universities do research, conservation, restoration, and interpretation of objects and images from the past in order to understand the present. I find the initiative of museums to archive objects of this crisis and preserve the present iconography interesting. These ‹Covid-19 artefacts› will help future humanity in understanding the current crisis. I believe that collecting information, researching on sources, knowing how to look at images (in a broad sense), and conserving objects play a crucial role in reflecting critically upon our societies, perpetuating the collective memory, and rewriting
our narratives. The corona pandemic has not only shown that the citizens’ health must be a priority, but also that we need conservation, art history, and access to art and culture in order to survive.»

– V.E. Mandrij