Investigative Aesthetics — Investigative Poetics: Forensic Procedures in the Contemporary Arts
Guest lecture by Lisa Stuckey organized by the studio for Art and Time | Media.
Oscillating between scientific and rhetorical evidence, the inquiries by Forensic Architecture have been putting notions of arts and aesthetics, law and justice to the test for more than a decade. Emerging research branches into diverse transdisciplinary currents, one of which explores media-historic and theory-political genealogies of “investigative aesthetics”: Drawing from her book Forensische Verfahren in den zeitgenössischen Künsten (De Gruyter 2022), Lisa Stuckey’s guest lecture will elucidate Forensic Architecture’s para-juridical exhibition practice, discussing display strategies and evolving attention economies. Building on this analysis, the research agency’s investigative methodologies will be juxtaposed to those employed by artists such as M. NourbeSe Philip, Constanze Ruhm, and Lawrence Abu Hamdan — revealing a tension between “Investigative Aesthetics” and “Investigative Poetics” within forensic procedures in the contemporary arts.
Dr. Lisa Stuckey is a cultural theorist and art critic. Her work revolves around contemporary visual cultures, forensic art practices, media aesthetics, and critical legal studies. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and pursued her doctorate as fellow of the IFK International Research Center for Cultural Studies with a research appointment at Goldsmiths, University of London. Lisa Stuckey’s research has led to fellowships and lecturer posts at, amongst others, the Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies at the University of Lucerne, the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich, and the University of Arts Linz. Currently, she is senior scientist in the project “Transform” at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In spring/summer 2024, she will be a fellow at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Advanced Study “inHerit. Heritage in Transformation” in Berlin.