Research
The aim of general research and special research activities or projects is to promote basic research on the cultural, historical, and medial context of artists’ publications or the collection holdings, and to work toward scholarly indexing of the archives.
The tasks of this department lie in particular in research activities on the holdings of the Centre for Artists’ Publications in the development of research projects and the application for third-party funding projects, the offer of courses for the cooperating universities, the co-supervision of Bachelor or Master theses or doctorates on the subject, the organization of international conferences, the organization of lectures and the issuing of publications as well as the publication of articles in scientific journals. These activities are integrated into cooperations with the Research Association for Artists’ Publications, the University of Bremen and other university or institutional cooperation partners.
The strengthening of university teaching and the involvement of students in “research practice”, also offers the creation of practice- and career-oriented training opportunities for students. Lecturers from the cooperating universities also hold courses in the center’s rooms and work directly with students on the artistic material. The archive is thus integrated into university teaching.
Research projects are often combined with exhibitions in order to present the results in a generally understandable way and to be able to communicate them to a broader population, as well as to offer a forum for communicating the results. The collection thus forms an essential part of the scientific infrastructure.
Research Association for Artists' Publications
The Research Association for Artists’ Publications (Forschungsverbund Künstlerpublikationen) was founded by scholars from the University of Bremen, Jacobs University Bremen, the Hochschule für Künste, the Research Center Eastern Europe, and the Research Centre for Artists’ Publications / Weserburg.
The aim of the research network is to initiate basic research in the field of artists’ publications and to establish this as a new field of scholarly work. Artist’s publications’ is used here as a generic term for all forms of published works of art: from artist’s books to records, from video films to net art. The outstanding significance of artists’ publications consists in the manifestation of a new artistic thinking since the spirit of awakening of the 1960s and the idea of democratization of art, an offensive presentation of publicity and worldwide dissemination by using the possibilities of mass media.
A special focus of the Research Association for Artists’ Publications is the promotion of young artists by stimulating master’s theses and dissertations.
The Research Association organizes lectures as well as the lecture series Theoretical Tropes. It organizes symposia and conferences on special art- and media-theoretical topics and publishes the series for artists’ publications as well as the online magazine setup4.
Further information on the research association can be found at www.kuenstlerpublikationen.de.
Research projects
Contemporary Art History for Tomorrow
Creation of foundations for the art historiography of tomorrow Project duration: 2012-2014 Funding: Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Radio Art
On the development of a medium between aesthetics and socio-cultural impact history Project duration: 2011-2014 Funding: Volkswagen Foundation in the “Research in Museums” funding line
Poetry goes Art & vice versa
On the emergence and development of concrete and visual poetry as an artistic movement since the 1950s in Switzerland, Brazil, Sweden, Austria and Germany Project duration: 2010-2012 Funding: German Federal Cultural Foundation
Living Memory
Artists’ Publications in Europe – A Network for Indexing, Presentation and Communication Project duration: 2008-2010 Funding: European Commission, Culture 2007-2013
Art on Air – Radio Art in Transition
Project duration: 2008 Funding: Stiftung Kunstfonds
Exhibition project on Sound Art
Project duration: 2004-2005 Funding: Kulturstiftung des Bundes
Conferences and symposia
Archives in Motion
Artists’ Publications between Circulation and Preservation in a Global Perspective
International symposium on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Centre for Artists’ Publications and the Research Association Artists’ Publications
08. – 09.11.2019
Radio as Art – Concepts, Spaces, Practices. Radio Art between Media Reality and Art Reception.
International conference from 05. to 07.06.2014.
Poetry – Concrete | Poetry – Concrete.
On the international distribution and diversification of Concrete Poetry.
On Concrete Poetry’s Worldwide Distribution and Diversifiation.
International Conference from 17. to 18.06.2011
Indexing and Investigation of Artists’ Publications
Workshop from 13. to 15.11.2009
Radio as Art
Contexts of Radio Art
Symposium from 04. to 05.07.2008
Art ‘In-Formation’ – Communication Aesthetics and Network Structures in Art from the 1960s to the Present
International Conference from 30.11. to 1.12.2007
Sound Art – Between Avant-garde and Pop Culture
International Conference from 30.9. to 2.10.2005
Book | Medium | Photography
International conference from 21. to 22.02.2003
Printed in Spain. Art and New Music in Spain in the 60s – 80s
Symposium from 15. to 17.06.2001
Artists’ Publications – a Genre and its Development in Libraries, Museums, and Collections: Perspectives on the networking of archives
International conference from 20. to 22.04.2001
University and teaching
Seminars are regularly held at the Centre for Artists’ Publications as part of the Bachelor’s degree program in Art Science and Art Education and the Master’s degree program in Art and Cultural Education. In this context, the head of the Centre for Artists’ Publications has been a lecturer at the Institute for Art Science and Art Education / Department 9 of the University of Bremen since 1999.
Within the seminars, students work directly with the published works of art. Thus, the students not only learn how to deal with works of art, but often also have to try their hand at art-scientific research. The combination of theory and practice is a focal point of the courses. Thus, building on the possibilities in the Centre for Artists’ Publications, students can sometimes work on small exhibitions themselves as part of a seminar. Exhibition management, project management, basic marketing and PR approaches, as well as aspects of visitor support or collection management are then also taught.
In addition, the Centre’s study space is available to other instructors upon request for seminars, field trips, or workshops on the broad field of published, reproduced, and publicized art with students. Staff members of the Centre for Artists’ Publications are happy to provide advice and support for this purpose and, if necessary, also to hold a workshop.
Students can complete internships of eight weeks to six months at the Centre. They are involved in all areas of work. This often leads to bachelor’s or master’s theses as well as doctoral dissertations.
Seminars, organized by Dr. Anne Thurmann-Jajes, are held regularly in the study room of the Centre for Artists’ Publications for the Institute of Art Studies and Art Education / FB9 of the University of Bremen.