Invitation to the Defense of Christiane Kues

The Examination Panel is made up of: Axel Stockburger (chair), Diedrich Diederichsen (supervisor), and Karin Harrasser (external appraiser, University of Arts Linz).

Abstract

»Artistic Research« still describes the debate about the institutionalization of doctoral programmes in the arts in Europe and worldwide as well as the new possibilities of knowledge production between art and science that this entails; on the other hand, the term also refers to various artistic practices. At the center of the debate is a refusal of clear disciplinary attributions. The long process of institutionalization of numerous doctoral programmes has made Artistic Research a permanent venue for the negotiation of models with both artistic and scientific components. On the one hand, this was a reaction to the introduction of the evaluation of research in the arts at European universities, which is intended to legitimize the implementation of these projects; on the other hand, artistic-research practices were already institutionalized in museums, archives and art institutions in general. The level of research is currently linked to the evaluation of artistic research projects and represents a structural change. Artistic-research practice before and after Artistic Research differs above all in its institutionalization. If one wants to examine Artistic Research in the context of the arts along transformation processes, then both developments (before and after) must be taken into account. Another crucial point is that artistic research only developed into a place for critical knowledge production much later. The subject of this study is the historical and social contexts from which critical impulses have emerged in the prehistory of Artistic Research since the 1970s. The examples from these contexts are often relevant references or legitimization bases for Artistic Research. Nevertheless, they also contain the concept of Artistic Research as a theory of practice. I will follow this up with individual examples of Artistic Research projects after 2010, the point at which numerous doctoral programs were introduced worldwide. Against this background, not only the increasing demands on artistic practice become clear, but also the conditions under which artistic practice is situated between the art world, academic research and along circulating discourses.

Short biography

Christiane Kues is an artist based in Berlin. From 2004 to 2010, she studied fine art in the photography class of Thomas Ruff and Christopher Williams at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. In 2014/15, she received a travel grant from the Hessian Cultural Foundation for a residency in Los Angeles, California. In 2016 she was a research fellow at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna and taught at the Institute for Art and Cultural Studies in the winter semester 2017/18 and the summer semester 2018 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. 2020 her artist book Auto PhD - Bodies, Parts and Paint, also funded by the Hessische Kulturstiftung was published. She is also cofounder of the Bert Neumann Association gUG for interdisciplinary  projects and research into the estate of the stage designer of the Volksbühne, Berlin, who died in 2015.

The thesis defense will be held in German and at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Vienna, Room M13a.

We are looking forward to welcoming you.