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Die meisten kulturellen Einrichtungen bzw. Betriebe mit künstlerischem Anspruch wie Theater und Orchester werden betrieblich mitbestimmt. Allerdings gelten für sie Einschränkungen als Tendenzbetriebe, insbesondere sollen Nicht-Künstler nicht in künstlerischen Belangen mitbestimmen, weshalb es eigene Vertretungsorgane für Künstler gibt. In öffentlich-rechtlichen Betrieben ist außerdem die grundgesetzlich geschützte Freiheit der Kunst unmittelbar relevant und schützt den künstlerischen Bereich. Dabei können von der Mitbestimmung neben den Kulturschaffenden auch die Kunst und ihre Rezipienten profitieren., Most cultural institutions or organisations with artistic standards, such as theatres and orchestras, are co-determined at the plant-level. However, they are subject to limitations as tendential companies, in particular, non-artists should not have a say in artistic matters, which is why there are separate representative bodies for artists. Moreover, the constitutionally protected freedom of art is directly relevant in public companies and protects the artistic area. In addition to those who create culture, the art itself and its recipients can also benefit from co-determination.

Die Dissertation befasst sich mit den aufkommenden Ver��nderungen in der westdeutschen Kunstszene ab Anfang der 1960er Jahre. Es wird den Fragestellungen nachgegangen, inwieweit und auf welche Art und Weise der Wandel des Kunstbegriffs einen Einfluss auf die Ver��nderungen der Galerier��ume, des Berufsstandes des Kunsth��ndlers bzw. Galeristen sowie der Kunstvermarktung hatte. Der Fokus liegt auf der amerikanischen zeitgen��ssischen Kunst der 1960er-Jahre, allen voran der Pop-Art, basierend auf der Annahme, dass diese bei der Erweiterung des Kunstbegriffs eine ma��gebliche Rolle spielte.

Since the late 1980s visibility has become a currency of social recognition, and a political issue. It also brought forth a new discipline, visual culture studies, and a hotly contested debate unfolded between art history and visual culture studies over the interpretation of visual culture, whose impact can still be felt today. In this first comparative study Susanne von Falkenhausen reveals the concepts of seeing as scholarly act that underwrite these competing approaches to visuality and society, along with the agendas of identity politics that motivate them. In close readings of key texts spanning from the early 20th century to the present the author crosses expertly between American, German, and British versions of art history, cultural studies, aesthetics, and film studies.

Two monumental murals depict Switzerland during the First World War: the votive painting in the Lower Ranft Chapel in Flüeli-Ranft by Robert Durrer (1867-1934), Albert Hinter (1876- 1957) and Hans von Matt (1899-1985) from 1920-21, and the cycle of Charles L’Eplattenier (1874-1946) in the Knights’ Hall of the Co- lombier Castle from 1915-19, depicting the mobilization of Swiss soldiers in 1914.1 They report in rich details how differently artists in that country saw the war of 1914-18. Both were put into architectural monuments built around 1500.2 However, they differ greatly in their form, fulfilling a completely different function at the time of their execution., Swiss American Historical Society Review, 56 (1)

Gender and Power in the Premodern World showcases cutting‐edge research into issues of gender and power across a broad temporal and geographic spectrum. It fills key lacunae in the field, broadening conversations about gender and power by addressing constructions and performances of masculinity as well as engaging with women’s roles, expanding beyond a European framework of analysis, and breaking down conventional barriers between premodern periods. It examines not only rulers and elites in positions of political or religious authority but also others who exerted power in economic, cultural, and symbolic forms.

Jeder kennt den vielseitigen Künstler Picasso. Doch kaum jemand hat sein immenses lyrisches und dramatisches Werk gelesen. Mehr als 300 Prosagedichte in spanischer und französischer Sprache und zwei Theaterstücke locken uns durch wunderbare Wortkombinationen und stoßen uns in ihrer Länge und Unverständlichkeit oft ab. Wie findet man einen Weg durch dieses Sprachlabyrinth? Nanette Rißler-Pipkas detaillierte Lektüren zeigen, dass Picassos schriftstellerisches Werk nicht aus einer Laune heraus entstand, sondern einen Platz in der europäischen Literaturgeschichte beansprucht. Everyone knows the celebrated artist Picasso. But hardly anyone has read his immense lyric and dramatic work. More than 300 prose poems in Spanish and French and two plays lure us through wonderful combinations of words and repel us in their length and incomprehensibility. How would you ever find a way through this language labyrinth? Nanette Rißler-Pipkas’s detailed readings show that Picasso’s literary work was not born out of a (bad) mood but claims a place in European literary history.

Die große Kreuzabnahme für Assunziata in Florenz wurde von Filippino Lippi im Jahr 1503 begonnen und durch Pietro Perugino 1507 vollendet. Wie bei anderen Bildern dieser Periode verbirgt sich das eigentliche Thema „hinter“ dem Sujet: die Revolutionierung des Weltbildes mit Christus als Sonne, Maria als begleitendem Mond und den sechs Planeten.

Digital images with metadata contain unique potential for research into the history of the art market. The embedding of digital images in a database allows for the possibility of an association with their historical context due to the presence of metadata, which includes economic data, such as the provenance chain, as well as information about collecting practices. The database becomes a historical reconstruction of context accompanying the reproductions of the works. In this paper, a case study of a museum photo archive of forgeries illustrates the ways in which digital methods can be helpful in analyzing these contexts. The archive was run by the secret &ldquo, Verband von Museums-Beamten zur Abwehr von F&auml, lschungen und unlauterem Gesch&auml, ftsgebahren&rdquo, (Association of Museum Officials for Defense against Fakes and Improper Business Practices). This archive allows the engagement of early 20th century museums in the art market to be traced within specific genres. The goal of the case study and methodology presented here is to learn more about the economic practices of museums. Specifically, this paper reconsiders a study by Timothy Wilson on fake maiolica, with a new focus on the involvement of museums in the art market.

Pickup Artists beschäftigen sich mit der ,Kunst der Verführung‘ und imitieren dabei die Strategien von sexuell erfolgreichen Männern. Mit dem Gruppendiskussionsverfahren wurde der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern die Community der Pickup Artists Männlichkeiten konstruiert. Es zeigt sich, dass Mann-Sein für die Pickup Artists nur in seltenen Fällen ,von Natur aus‘ vorhanden ist und in der Regel erworben und aktiv gesichert werden muss. Der Analyse zufolge besteht grundsätzlich die Gefahr, das Mann-Sein und die von den Pickup Artists als positiv bewerteten stereotyp-männlichen Merkmale zu verlieren. Es bedarf „harter Arbeit“ an sich selbst, um zu lernen sich zu „verhalten, wie ein Mann sich verhalten sollte“ – dieses Projekt der vergeschlechtlichten Selbstoptimierung wird als der „Weg des wahren Mannes“ bezeichnet. Es konnten drei Männlichkeitstypen, die ‚wahre‘, die ‚fehlende‘ und die ‚potentielle‘ Männlichkeit, rekonstruiert werden, welche für das Funktionieren der Community der Pickup Artists ausschlaggebend sind., Pickup Artists devote themselves to the ‘art of seduction’ and they imitate the strategies of sexually successful men. To reach the goal of this research project – to answer the question how masculinities are constructed by the Pickup-Community – the group discussion method was applied. It turns out that being ‘a real man by nature’ does rarely exist for the Pickup Artists and that masculinity must be acquired, earned and actively secured. According to the analysis there’s a general risk of no longer being a ‘real man’ and of losing the male-stereotype features, which are positively rated by the Pickup Artists. It requires “hard work” to learn to “behave as a real man should behave” – this project of gendered self-optimization is called the “path of real man”. Three types of masculinity could be reconstructed, the ‘true’, the ‘missing’, and the ‘potential’ masculinity, which are crucial for the functioning of the Community of Pickup Artists.

This dissertation examines the relationship between royally-sponsored Roman Catholic and Ethiopian Orthodox art and architecture during the 1557 to 1632 Jesuit Ethiopian mission. The first part of the dissertation examines key religious and secular sites, demonstrating how these structures combined elements drawn from classicizing architectural treatises, the Portuguese estilo chão, and Ethiopian architecture. The second part of the project assesses the role of books, prints, and religious art as tools of conversion and as artistic models. In contrast to studies that posit that European visual culture supplanted the Ethiopian during the mission era, the dissertation argues that the period’s art and architecture demonstrates the Jesuit strategy of cultural accommodation, and that far from being apart from Ethiopian art history, it shares stylistic and iconographic hallmarks with the so-called “Gondärine style.”, Aethiopica, Vol 20 (2017)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 20 (2017)

Media use can be considered as an integral part of virtual communication and thus of present-day human interaction. Nevertheless, research on media use and effects still largely relies on laboratory experiments, treating it as a stable input condition, rather than as a function of human appropriation. In this study, we propose a conceptualization of virtual communication as a dynamic construct dependent on media appropriation, particularly of compensatory adaptation processes. Using longitudinal data gathered from 165 individuals, nested in 34 project teams, we explore compensatory adaptation as a function of communication intensity and physical media richness and develop a continuous score of virtual communication accounting for these compensatory processes. Multilevel analyses demonstrate a significant influence of this communication measure on team performance, increasing over time. These results are discussed with regards to their implications for theories of media use and effects and their relevance for real-life communication processes.

Es zeichnet sich seit den 1990er-Jahren die Tendenz ab, dass sich viele Künstler/innen verstärkt mit Subjekten statt mit Objekten beschäftigen. Hinzu kommt eine zunehmende „Kollektivierung und Theatralisierung der einst auf Singularität und Präsenz setzenden Performance“. In diesem Zusammenhang sind auch immer mehr künstlerische Arbeiten zu registrieren, die mit Prozessionen und Paraden eine Vielzahl von Menschen auf die Straße bringen und in Bewegung versetzen. Dies spiegelt sich auch in einer immer größer werdenden Zahl thematischer Ausstellungen wider, die sich diesen Arbeiten widmen. Bereits 2004 konstatierte Pablo Lafuente in seinem Essay „Art on Parade“ in Art Monthly: „That ability of the parade to create subjectivity is where the artist’s political aspiration lies.“ Die künstlerisch-ästhetischen Praktiken von Francis Alÿs, Matthew Barney, Mierle Laderman Ukeles und Jeremy Deller, die Gegenstand der vorliegenden Untersuchung sind, könnten unterschiedlicher nicht sein. Ihre Gemeinsamkeit liegt in der performativen Verwendung eines sehr alten traditionellen Handlungsmusters, das den meisten Menschen vertraut ist. Die Prozession ist eine ritualisierte Handlung, die in unseren Breiten zuallererst mit der christlichen beziehungsweise der katholischen Liturgie in Zusammenhang gebracht wird. Die Grundbedeutung des Begriffs (von lat. processio = Zug, Geleit) als ein zielgerichtetes, geordnetes, gemeinsames Gehen, das den Raum gliedert und ihm dabei Bedeutung verleiht, umfasst jedoch den kultischen ebenso wie den profanen Umzug. So begegnen uns Prozessionen in vielen Bereichen des kulturellen Lebens. Dementsprechend beschäftigt sich diese Dissertation mit Prozessionen, Paraden und Karnevalsumzügen, deren Grundmotiv das gemeinsame, öffentliche, oftmals um einen Gegenstand herum organisierte Gehen, also die Prozession in ihrem allgemeinen Sinne ist. Ever since the 90s, the tendency of many artists increasingly dealing with subjects instead of objects has become apparent. In this context, more and more artistic works that take a multitude of people to the streets or set them in motion as part of a procession or parade can be registered. This is also reflected in a growing number of themed exhibitions exploring these works. The artistic-aesthetic practice of Francis Alÿs, Matthew Barney, Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Jeremy Deller could hardly be more different. Their common ground can be found in the performative use of a very old traditional pattern of action that most people are familiar with. The procession is a ritualised act, which - in this part of the world – is first and foremost implicated in Christian respectively Catholic liturgy. The basic meaning of this term (derived from Latin processio – progression/cortege) as a purposeful, orderly, collective walk structuring and thus giving meaning to a certain space comprises, however, the sacral as well as the profane procession. This is way we can encounter processions in many parts of cultural life (and in almost every culture). This dissertation accordingly explores processions, (carnival) parades and demonstrations which all share the basic motif of a collective, public organised walk, often around an object, i.e. a procession in its general sense.

Arnd Wedemeyer's article focuses on the German artist Joseph Beuys (1921–86), who did not shy away from describing the social order with traditional organic metaphors, such as the notion of a 'central organ'. However, it is above all the - plastic - relationship between society and art that is at issue in Wedemeyer's article, entitled 'Pumping Honey: Joseph Beuys at the documenta 6'. Using the term 'Soziale Plastik', Beuys not only classified his own artistic practice as essentially sculptural but, more importantly, thematized its heterogeneous yet anything but passive relationship to art market, exhibition, museum, and various modes of reception, as well as staked its political claim. Wedemeyer looks at Beuys's contribution to the 1977 documenta, 'Honey Pump at the Workplace', in order to argue that the layered invocation of plasticity characteristic of Beuys's practice and theorizing ought not be historicized, as is commonly done, as an instantiation of the excessive, transgressive - and quite possibly disingenuous - zeal of the neo-avant-garde. Beuys's 'Plastik' should not be confused with anti-aesthetic formlessness, base materialism, a post-Duchampian ruination of the 'objet trouvé', and least of all a Neoromantic or Wagnerian projection or hypostatization of the autonomous work of art. The avant-gardes of the twentieth century have rendered the relationship of art and aesthetics tenuous at best, their artistic 'innovations' straining against the supratemporally or anthropologically defined characteristics of aesthetic valuation, play, or force. While many have sought to address this problem by tethering art to society in a shared 'contemporaneity', the article explores the implications of recasting this relation as one of plasticity, using the conceptual richness harvested by Catherine Malabou.

»Roman Charity« investigates the iconography of the breastfeeding daughter from the perspective of queer sexuality and erotic maternity. The volume explores the popularity of a topic that appealed to early modern observers for its eroticizing shock value, its ironic take on the concept of Catholic »charity«, and its implied critique of patriarchal power structures. It analyses why early modern viewers found an incestuous, adult breastfeeding scene »good to think with« and aims at expanding and queering our notions of early modern sexuality. Jutta Gisela Sperling discusses the different visual contexts in which »Roman Charity« flourished and reconstructs contemporary horizons of expectation by reference to literary sources, medical practice, and legal culture.

In the vast majority of representations of the Flight into Egypt, the child is huddled upon the Virgin’s lap or held in her arms. In addition to this traditional model, some interpretations of the Flight into Egypt show the child riding on Joseph’s shoulders or being held in his arms. The inventory of the representation of Joseph christophore from the fifth century to the mid-fifteenth century in Latin and Greek Christendom provides an insight into the frequency of this iconographic specificity of the Flight into Egypt, its diffusion and regional adaptations, as well as its meanings, via theological and exegetical texts.

Der Aufsatz setzt sich mit der Frage der Figuralkunst in der jüdischen Bildkultur auseinander. Während zuvor diese Frage immer nur vor dem Hintergrund des biblischen Bilderverbotes thematisiert wurde, schlägt dieser Aufsatz vor, die Existenz (oder nicht-Existenz) einer jüdischen Figuralkunst vor dem Hintergrund des jüdischen Kulturaustausches mit Nachbarkulturen zu beleuchten.

Die Dissertation setzt sich mit den fotografischen Repräsentationen der Atombombenabwürfe auf Hiroshima und Nagasaki sowie der Havarie des Kernkraftwerks Tschernobyl auseinander. Dabei werden künstlerische, dokumentarische und touristische Bilder analysiert, die sich der jeweiligen Strahlenkatastrophe oftmals erst Jahre nach dem Ereignis annehmen und ikonografische oder medial-materielle Bezüge zu ihr aufweisen. Es zeigen sich zentrale Strategien, atomare Katastrophen, seien sie militärischer oder ziviler Natur, in fotografische Bilder überzuführen. Gerade das eigentliche Unvermögen, die visuell nicht sichtbaren Strahlenemissionen oder die Komplexität der Vorgänge auf atomarer Ebene zu visualisieren, hat sich als prägend erwiesen und bestimmt als Paradigma der Unsichtbarkeit die kulturelle Rezeption der Ereignisse. Es ist dieser Umgang mit den Abstraktionspotentialen der nuklearen Technologie, die im aktuellen Spannungsfeld ökologischer, sozialer und energietechnologischer Bildpolitik ihre Relevanz stets von neuem unter Beweis stellt. The dissertation project seeks to analyse the photographic positions that deal with the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the accident of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. This focus includes press photographs of the events as well as artistic, documentary and touristic images that take an approach towards the disasters often years after and hereby form iconographic or material references to the events. The study reveals central strategies for photographic images of atomic catastrophes, be they of military or civil nature. It is the inability to visualize non-visible nuclear rays or the complexity of processes on an atomic level that has turned out to be crucial. This incapacity of making images, a paradigm of invisibility, substantially coins the cultural role of the events. The question of how a society deals with these abstract potentials of nuclear technology has turned out to be always anew of high relevance in regard to ecological, social and technological policies of images.

Investigations into the intermedia aspects of Gerhard Rühm's work remain seldom, even today. Yet there is general consensus that Gerhard Rühm is a "master of boundary-crossing". The present work analyzes intermedia aspects in the artist's musical and literary, as well as artistic production. After an introduction outlining Gerhard Rühm's artistic development, it will set forth the theoretical framework for a definition of intermediality. Subsequently, a total of 26 works will be analyzed with respect to their intermedia aspects. By dividing the examples of work into three groups, those fluctuating between poetry and music, between fine art and music, and between fine art and poetry, an exemplary insight will be provided into almost every field of the artist's productivity. In addition, this thesis will present a selection of constantly recurring, overarching themes in Gerhard Rühm's creative work.

No abstract available.

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 16 (2013)

Review Article, Aethiopica, Vol 16 (2013)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 16 (2013)

Der Aufsatz behandelt die Haggada, ein jüdisches liturgisches Buch, dass seit 1300 oft als illustriertes Buch in Umlauf kam. Das 15. Jh. erweist sich als die formative Periode eines vielschichtigen ikonographischen Repertoires. Der Aufsatz setzt sich mit verschiedenen Fragen der Rezeption der damals entstandenen Bilderzyklen auseinander.

Dissertation Abstract, Aethiopica, Vol 15 (2012)

When theatre arts emerged in Ethiopia 90 years ago, all characters in the pioneering play were performed solely by children in front of the Crown Prince Täfäri Mäkwännǝn, and members of the aristocracy. The tradition of considering children as a main force of stage production, and the tendency of showing dramatic performance by students to the benefit of adult audience, likewise, continued up until the establishment of the first professional public theatre in 1942. It was late in early 1980s that a change in perspective occurred to urge the indispensability of producing plays for children’s consumption. Such a new insight, within a few years, led to the establishment of the Children and Youth Theatre in Addis Abäba. This article chronologically portrays the history and development of Ethiopian children’s theatre and will hopefully add knowledge to the account of African theatre in particular and the world theatre in general., Aethiopica, Vol 15 (2012)

Les enlumineurs juifs des communautes ashkenazes et sepharades medievales etaient confrontes au contenu de textes dont le but etait de renforcer leur foi contre la pression chretienne a la conversion, et ils se servaient de ces textes pour transformer des sources iconographiques chretiennes en langage illustre juif. L'A. examine des themes bibliques de l'iconographie juive, les compare avec des paralleles chretiens et indique les elements qui se referent a des contextes specifiquement christologiques. Elle consulte ensuite les textes polemiques comme sources de connaissance de l'arriere-plan christologique.

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 1 (1998)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 3 (2000)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 1 (1998)

Research article, Aethiopica, Vol 1 (1998)

Photographs and classifications of Aksumite pottery, which is said to have originally come from Medebai. ATTENTION: Due to copy-right no online publication is provided., Aethiopica, Vol 2 (1999)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 4 (2001)

In traditional Ethiopian paintings a shining blue is observed. An analysis of four objects from the Museum Haus Völker und Kulturen in St. Augustin shows that they were painted with laundry blue. This substance is of varying composition, and has contained synthetic ultramarine since 1830. Laundry blue was of daily use and carried by travellers and missionaries. It was widely used by painters because of its shining colour and good technical properties. In this article the most likely paths by which synthetic ultramarine could have reached Ethiopia are described. This can be shown to have taken place several decades before 1900, the date that has been hitherto assumed to mark the introduction of synthetic colours. The German Zander was probably the first painter in Ethiopia to decorate a church (Därasge Maryam) with synthetic ultramarine in 1852., Aethiopica, Vol 4 (2001)

Miscellaneous Article, Aethiopica, Vol 4 (2001)

Dissertation Abstract ATTENTION: Due to copy-right no online publication is provided., Aethiopica, Vol 4 (2001)

The article describes two field trips to a little-known craftsman’s gädam, or monastery, in northern Šäwa. This institution, which, like other such monasteries in the region, probably dates from the late seventeenth or early eighteenh century, seems to have come into existance as a result of the rise of the Šäwan state. This development apparently attracted Fälaša, or Judaic, craftsmen — weavers, blacksmiths and potters — from the Gondär area, who at some uncertain stage were converted to Christianity. The gädam today consists of monks and nuns, who practice the traditionally “marginalised occupations” of blacksmith, weaver, and potter. Though nominally Christian, they have retained several traits which seem more “Judaic” than those of the highland Christian population at large., Aethiopica, Vol 4 (2001)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 4 (2001)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 5 (2002)

In this article the early evolution of iconic iconography of the Virgin Mary in Ethiopia is discussed. One particular image is postulated to exist on a painted manbar at Lālibalā. The figure of the Child Mary depicted together with her mother, St. Anne, in the wall painting at the Gannata Māryām Church can also be considered iconic. In the late 14th century and the first decades of the 15th century, three specific groupings of depictions of the Virgin Mary, all clearly having iconic characteristics, have come to light: the Orant Virgin, the seated Hodegetria and the enthroned Virgin holding the Child in her lap. These three forms are characterised by the inclusion of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, who are shown sheltering her with their outstretched wings. They are depicted holding crosses, while in a particular group of miniatures they extend their hands towards Mary in a gesture of supplication. This Orant form appears to be exceptional, and exists only in 14th century. The Hodegetria type evolved into numerous variants depending on the position of the Child, on Mary's left or right arm. The form of the Enthroned Virgin holding the Child in her lap, faded away in the early 15th century., Aethiopica, Vol 5 (2002)

With reference to Marco Bonechi’s article in this issue of Aethiopica, the present paper briefly surveys the evidence for the 1481 Ethiopian “embassy” to Pope Sixtus IV and then explores the possibility of identifying Anthony, head of that embassy, with “Fra Antonio Abissino” portrayed, most likely before 1527 by a painter called Schizzone, on the now lost tramezzo (‘choir screen’) of the Vatican church of Santo Stefano dei Mori., Aethiopica, Vol 14 (2011)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 14 (2011)

As proposed by several scholars, among the many modern on-lookers depicted on the walls of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, foreign diplomats are also portrayed: e.g., the Portuguese ambassador and the Florentine emissaries. In the present paper it is suggested that portraits of four of the six members of the momentous Ethiopian delegation – which was headed by Antonio, chaplain of aṣe Ǝskǝndǝr, and arrived at Rome in the first half of November 1481 – may be identified in two scenes, i.e. the Temptation of Moses by Sandro Botticelli and the Crossing of the Red Sea by Biagio d’Antonio Tucci. The paper focuses on the relationship between the visual representation of these four men – Antonio being most probably included – and two contemporary literary works: the treatise by Paride de Grassi on the ambassadors to the Roman curia and the writing by Andreas Trapezuntius on the Roman political situation at the end of 1481 respectively. Such topics as the genuflexion of the Ethiopians and the content of Sixtus IV with the Ethiopian embassy are dealt with. The importance of the suggested identifications for the problematic chronology of the frescoes is also discussed, and so a few other aspects of the two narrative scenes., Aethiopica, Vol 14 (2011)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 14 (2011)

In der Malerei war die Farbe für den Eindruck flüchtiger Emotionen zuständig; ihr oblag es, Gesichter bleich vor Schrecken, rot vor Wut oder gelb vor Neid darzustellen. Die Skulptur dagegen hatte solche vorübergehenden Affekte zu ignorieren. Dennoch spielte die Farbe als Eigenschaft des Materials für die Skulptur des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts eine zentrale Rolle. Eingangs mag der Blick auf eine zeitgenössische Arbeit die Bedeutung der Materialfarben verdeutlichen.

Eine der wichtigsten Aufgaben der Kunst ist es, unser kulturelles Gedächtnis zu aktivieren, zu errinnern was ist vergessen oder absichtlich in die Vergessenheit gezwungen wurde, selbst wenn das alte Wunde bluten lasst und traumatisch erscheint. Jedes Mal ist das Element der Kritik die ausschlaggebende Komponente der künstlerischen Arbeit, sie charakterisiert nicht nur den Künstler, und die Zeit in der er/sie lebt, sondern auch den Zuschauer, genauer: wie weit ist der Künstler bereit zu gehen und wie weit sind die Zuschauer bereit ihm zu folgen, im Rückblick manchmal mehr ersteres als letzteres. In meiner Arbeit analysiere ich die Aspekte von Mythologie, Geschichte und deren sozio-politische Relevanz in den Arbeiten von Anselm Kiefer, der Künstler der mit seinen Werken unsere Wahrnehmung der Geschichte, vor allem der deutschen Geschichte, beeinflust und in Frage gestellt hat. It is one of the major tasks of art to revive our cultural memory and to sharpen our senses, to remind whatever has been forgotten or is being purposefully given to oblivion and to predict whatever the future might have in store even if it causes old wounds bleed anew. Each time the element of critique, being one of the crucial components of artistic work, characterises not only the artist, the time he/she lives in, but also the spectator: precisely, how far the artist is prepared to go and how much the spectator is prepared to accept, in retrospect more the latter than the former. My work analyses the problems of mythology, history and their socio-political relevance on the examples of works by Anselm Kiefer, the artist whose work is irrevocably related to history, German history in the first place, the artistic means of remembrance as well as the role of mythology in our collective memory.

Though Eduard Zander’s original sketchbook with drawings in pen and ink – showing the remote Simen Mountain area – is still preserved in London, his adventuresome life and his scientific and artistic work as a biologist, architect or artisan is scarcely known in 19th century Ethiopian history. In the present article the author makes an attempt at Zander’s biography, adding the missing links and correcting the errors of his few predecessors; furthermore, he tries to produce recently dicovered source-material in an updated form., Aethiopica, Vol 8 (2005)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 7 (2004)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 9 (2006)

New acquisition of Ethiopian manuscripts in the "Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz": each manuscript with a with short description as well as a description of the picture story, which was enclosed., Aethiopica, Vol 9 (2006)