Middle Ages and Medievalisms
The field of Medieval Studies is undergoing a process of transformation that is calling the concept of the “Middle Ages” into question. What we know of the Middle Ages is always filtered through a medievalist lens and the very substance of medieval buildings, objects, and images has been altered accordingly.
This research area therefore explicitly includes studies on restoration of medieval monuments in the 19th and 20th centuries, and different forms of medievalisms through the centuries, thus also sharpening the sensorium for appropriations of medieval art in the Early Modern Era. The methodological challenges are manifold and include an acknowledgment of the necessity to study the Middle Ages on a global scale as well as in a highly interdisciplinary manner, without neglecting the core competences that art history has developed over time. The department encourages individual projects with a micro-historical approach that carry out intensive research on a limited body of objects and yet highlights how these relate to a large-scale discourse. Among the main issues adressed in this research area are questions of space and performativity, materiality and object studies, as well with the nascent field of sound studies and the notion of soundscape.
