DEGREE PROGRAMMES
BA Cultural Studiens
MA Media Culture and Art Theories
Fine Arts

Thematic orientation The activities of the Department of Cultural Studies are focused on working with what Antonio Gramsci has called the “benefit of an inventory” (beneficio d’inventario): the study and critical analysis of the traces left by historical processes in and on current self-relations. What do we think we know? What informs our actions? What techniques do we apply to discover and appropriate the world? How can new perspectives and scopes for action be acquired in the present? These activities comprise the discovery of spatially or temporally remote cultural formations, the surveying of everyday culture and artistic production, the investigation of media and cultural techniques. The orientation conducts cultural-historically informed research into the present, thereby addressing current problems. Teaching approach On the one hand, the fundamentals of cultural-scientific work are imparted: reading seminars and introductory lectures serve to study both classics and current theoretical positions; research seminars and practical tutorials test a variety of methods. On the other hand, the relationship between artistic practice and cultural studies is constantly examined as well. Current focuses of research

• Body, self- and media techniques
• Knowledge and evidence
• Processes of temporalisation
• Theories of the subject / of objects
• Popular culture / science fiction
• Gender and agency
• Genres and methods of cultural studies

Studies BA Cultural Studies Studienzweig Kulturwissenschaften MA Medienkultur- und Kunsttheorien