Contemporary Matters. Contemporary Art in the Context of Teaching and Research

The panel discussion, "Contemporary Matters. Contemporary Art in the Context of Teaching and Research," is devoted to questions regarding the possibilities and aims in locating contemporary art in the discipline of art history as well as the relationship between the scientific discourse and the art and cultural production in Vienna today.

Since 1989, artistic practices have continuously expanded both in its content and methodological framework of art production and research, operating on interdisciplinary levels such as (overlapping) feminist, gender-theoretical or postcolonial discourses. On the one hand, this leads to the processing of highly topical global affairs and, on the other hand, to the development of new scientific methods. In the Viennese space, which possesses a long tradition of art history dating back to the Viennese School of Art History, a differentiated examination of contemporary art is particularly attractive.

As an academic-historical discipline, art history acts as a theoretical parallel to artistic practice in order to open up the contiguous contexts where culture is generated and manifested. Contemporary art offers the potential for a productive interaction between theory and praxis beyond a (time-delayed) historiography. This raises questions about the current position and role of art history in contemporary art: How can a scientific examination of contemporary art be shaped? To what extent does art history benefit from the methods of global contemporary art? What significance does the teaching of art history have with regard to preparing for a future field of work for contemporary art? How can collaborations in knowledge production between exhibition institutions and universities be strengthened? What is the role of universities and colleges as the main theoretical authority? And what role does art history play in an art world that is primarily marked by an ephemeral art criticism?

with Dr. Sabine Haag (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien), University Professor Eva Maria Stadler (University of Applied Arts Vienna), University Professor Sebastian Egenhofer (Institute of Art History Vienna), University Professor Raphael Rosenberg (Institute of Art History Vienna), Fanny Hauser (in association with the Petition Chair of Contemporary Art), Philipp Pichler (Student of Art History)

moderated by Georg Schöllhammer (tranzit.at, springerin)