Institute of Philosophy and Sciences of Art

Sciences of Art at the Leuphana University focuses on crucial issues of fine art and the use of images from the Enlightenment to the present day. Besides the communication of the concepts of art history and its methods, the Cultural Studies at the Leuphana University concentrate on contemporary art, art history of modernity, art sociology, visual studies, art criticism and art theory/aesthetics. In regard to sciences of art as well as society, these topics indicate a strong reference to actuality. Moreover, the program deals with the analysis of works of fine art and its criticism, the institutional and social conditions of artistic production, reception and distribution. Furthermore, fundamental questions of presentation and presentability, from an aesthetic and artistic and from an epistemic and political perspective, are relevant. Painting, photography, film, installation, video, and performance are subjects of research and teaching, as are images of daily use in science or advertising.

A close collaboration with the Kunstraum of the Leuphana Universität of Lüneburg establishes a practice-oriented connection to contemporary art and its actors. In practice seminars and workshops, students can gain experience in conceiving exhibitions of contemporary artists. Students benefit from a lively exchange with the Leuphana Arts Program promoting a dialogue between artists and scholars. Excursions to significant exhibitions and museums within Germany, Europe and beyond take place on a regular basis. Previous study tours led to Dakar (2014), New Delhi (2013), Jerusalem/Tel Aviv/Ramallah (2015).

In the Bachelor, faculty members of the Sciences of Art unit mainly teach the advanced course Art and Visual Culture. Furthermore, the Humanities Module of the Complementary Studies program offers additional art-theoretical courses. The Master’s Program Arts & Sciences: Kulturwissenschaften – Culture, Arts and Media primarily consists of the Major “Kunst- und Medienwissenschaft” as well as the Minor “Praxisfelder der Künste”.

The discipline-related appendix and the module guide provide detailed information regarding the study program of the Bachelor’s and Master’s Cultural Studies. 

Philosophy has a long and rich tradition lasting up to the intensive debates of contemporary philosophy in which the researchers and teachers of the unit are actively engaged. As a critical practice of thought, philosophy examines the conditions of cognition, gives methodological and content-related impetus to other sciences, and makes an important contribution to assessing valid rules and norms as well as current social problems.

One of the concerns of philosophy at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg is to support the exchange and lines of connection between the continental European and Anglo-Saxon traditions of philosophy. In doing so, we combine the claims to clear argumentation made by analytical philosophy with the examination of claims to truth and validity and the research of the phenomenological-hermeneutic tradition, which continues to have an effect on current French philosophy and has thus indirectly become a source of inspiration in cultural studies. A further main focus of philosophy is on cultural philosophy and aesthetics since the “saddle period” around the year 1800, but also on German idealism and its history of international reception.

With theoretical philosophy, practical philosophy, and the theory of science, the unit functions as a cross-faculty bridge within the university.

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