News in detail

A new graduate school at the University of Konstanz will combine art studies, conservation and restoration science, and art technology. Within its funding programme “Humanities, Cultural Studies, Social Sciences and Professional Practice in Graduate Education”, the Volkswagen Foundation is providing 1.8 million euros for the “Changing Frames” (“Rahmenwechsel”) Graduate School, a cooperative project of the University of Konstanz and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. The interdisciplinary college, headed by Konstanz art historian Professor Karin Leonhard, will open in winter semester 2018/2019 for postgraduate students focussing on the material constitution and the history of works of art and artefacts. The “Changing Frames” programme will combine areas of the humanities and the sciences for future professionals who envisage working in such institutions as museums, galleries, and heritage conservation.

The Volkswagen Foundation’s funding programme “Humanities, Cultural Studies, Social Sciences and Professional Practice in Graduate Education” supports pilot project graduate schools that enable researchers to gain insights into a variety of professional fields while researching and writing their doctoral theses. In this way they can improve their scientific expertise as well as gain qualifications for professions outside the university.

The main objective of “Changing Frames” is to closely interweave art studies, conservation and restoration science, and art technology at the postgraduate level. The concept was developed in response to the need to create a stronger practical emphasis in the humanities and cultural and social sciences, and to integrate material-science methods in the examination and interpretation of art historical objects. Consequently, the graduate school will offer a special perspective on art objects by providing in-depth analyses of the working process, the materials used, their history, and resulting media-specific qualities.

The “Changing Frames” Graduate School will offer its students professional prospects not only in the academic sphere but especially in museums, galleries, auction houses and monument conservation, as well as in such freelance fields as curating, art law, and digital visualisation of art technological findings.

The “Changing Frames” Graduate School is supported by national and international partners, including Cologne’s Wallraf-Richartz Museum & Fondation Corboud, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Courtauld Institute of Art (London), and the Hamilton Kerr Institute (Cambridge).

The school offers seven places to doctoral students; these will be advertised for applicants very soon. To find out more about the graduate school and to apply, please contact Tilly Laaser, “Changing Frames” Graduate School coordinator, email: tilly.laaser@uni-konstanz.de.

Overview:

• The new “Rahmenwechsel” (“Changing Frames”) Graduate School, created by the University of Konstanz and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, will combine art studies, conservation and restoration science, art technology and professional practice
• Speaker: Professor Karin Leonhard, professor for art history at the University of Konstanz; deputy speaker Professor Volker Schaible, State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart
• Funding of 1.8 million euros from the Volkswagen Foundation’s programme “Humanities, Cultural Studies, Social Sciences and Professional Practice in Graduate Education”
• Duration: winter semester 2018/2019 to summer semester 2022
• Doctoral student training in research projects dealing with the investigation of the materials and the history of art objects and historical artefacts
• Combines areas of the humanities and the sciences and includes art technological investigation methods
• Opens up professional prospects in science and research, museums, galleries, auction houses, monument conservation, art law, freelance curating
• Supported by national and international partners: Cologne’s Wallraf-Richartz Museum & Fondation Corboud, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Courtauld Institute of Art (London), and the Hamilton Kerr Institute (Cambridge)