Doctoral Research Group Representation Visuality Knowledge

Knowledge and discovery – ancient rhetoric already taught us this – are bound by modes of representation. Since the modern age, the arts, in particular, have been characterized by a reflected, critical, deconstructive or even affective preoccupation with questions of representation, as a combination of forms, content and media of representation. Artistic practices, for example, can demonstrate the extent to which the persuasive force of a visual and/or textual object is an effect of representation work. The Doctoral Research Group highlights and questions the (political) power of representation, the specific role of visuality and the impact of both on current and historical knowledge production.

The participating disciplines (art history, sociology of art, media science, philosophy, literature studies and rhetoric) have a common framework in their definition of the term representation. They therefore explore visual, auditory, textual and social phenomena.

Another focus of the Doctoral Research Group is the study of cultures of criticism. Representation is understood as the point of crystallization of various forms of criticism, which can only be compared and discussed in the context of representation.

The cooperation with the Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM) and the DFG-funded Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation (MECS) focuses on media-based and technical conditions of representation.

The Doctoral Research Group benefits particularly from its cooperation with the Leuphana "Kunstraum", which has carried out projects with internationally acclaimed artists for 25 years.