Periodic Reporting for period 2 - VISUAL_SCEPTICISM (Visual Scepticism. Towards an Aesthetic of Doubt)
Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2024-10-31
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
The research project “Visual Scepticism. Towards an Aesthetic of Doubt” (acronym VISUAL_SCEPTICISM; Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Margit Kern) at Universität Hamburg, Germany, investigates the question of whether and how visual media are capable of calling themselves into question. The new term "visual scepticism" was coined to characterise this phenomenon (Kern 2018). The focus here is not on doubt as such as a pictorial theme or motif, but instead on the question of whether and how pictorial media can express doubt without recourse to texts. In other words, the aim is not to trace the reception of texts of philosophical scepticism in works of painting, printmaking, sculpture or photography, but instead to ask whether there exists a mode of doubting that is based solely on the formal qualities – i.e. the design aspects – of visual media. Analysed against this background is the capacity of visual media to contradict themselves or to destabilise themselves in their basic functions, such as showing. In a second step, the results of this analysis will be applied to the redesign of monuments that are seen as embodying "difficult heritage".
Today, many of these objects – memorials and monuments from the era of colonialism or National Socialism – are still perceived primarily in relation to their historical significance. In many cases, such ‘difficult heritage’ is addressed mainly through historical studies. In these investigations, aesthetic aspects – especially the organization of space – tend to be neglected, although they play a significant role in the rhetorical power of these monuments, which remains effective in public spaces today. In order to adequately counter or contradict this rhetorical power, the aesthetic strategies embodied in these structures must be subjected to precise analysis. It soon becomes obvious that information panels explaining the historical context is inadequate when it comes to addressing monuments in public space that are elements of this difficult heritage.
Subproject 1 “Visual Scepticism” explores the phenomena of visual scepticism in the history of art from the early modern period to the present; this makes it possible to analyse contemporary reframings of monuments in a more differentiated way.
Subproject 2 “German Colonial-Era Monuments and the Conceptualization of Space” examines monuments that were erected in Africa and Germany in the context of German colonialism. Increasingly, these monuments are the focus of discussion today. Up to this point, these monuments have been examined primarily from a historical perspective. Still needed are in depth analyses of their design and spatial conceptualizations.
Subproject 3 „Reframing Difficult Heritage in Brazil“ is devoted to current confrontations with ‘difficult heritage’ in that country. Particularly important in this context are artefacts of the transatlantic slave trade. The Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site in Rio de Janeiro, for example, was excavated in 2011 and added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017.
Subproject 4 analyses photography deriving from colonial contexts and asks how photographic imagery can be included in exhibitions today without repeating or restaging the violence expressed in these visual media.
Subproject 5 “Difficult Heritage and the Role of Nature. Nazi-Era Landscape Design in Post-War Germany” analyses the uses of ‘nature’ in the transformation of the Nazi legacy in post-war Germany. Highlighted in particular are continuities in landscape design between the Nazi and the post-war eras. In many cases, a positive attitude toward natural vegetation and landscape design meant a reliance on them as resources in relation to the denazificationn of architectural monuments.
Subproject 6 “Removed, Replaced, Wrapped, Remodelled: ‘Difficult Heritage’ and the case of Christopher Columbus” – More than almost any other historical figure, Columbus is synonymous with European expansion. For this reason, monuments to Columbus were erected in various regions worldwide well into the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, their association with ‘difficult heritage’ has made them the objects of activist and artistic interventions. The project examines strategies of visual scepticism that become identifiable through these interventions.
For more information: https://www.visual-scepticism.uni-hamburg.de/en.html(opens in new window)
Today, many of these objects – memorials and monuments from the era of colonialism or National Socialism – are still perceived primarily in relation to their historical significance. In many cases, such ‘difficult heritage’ is addressed mainly through historical studies. In these investigations, aesthetic aspects – especially the organization of space – tend to be neglected, although they play a significant role in the rhetorical power of these monuments, which remains effective in public spaces today. In order to adequately counter or contradict this rhetorical power, the aesthetic strategies embodied in these structures must be subjected to precise analysis. It soon becomes obvious that information panels explaining the historical context is inadequate when it comes to addressing monuments in public space that are elements of this difficult heritage.
Subproject 1 “Visual Scepticism” explores the phenomena of visual scepticism in the history of art from the early modern period to the present; this makes it possible to analyse contemporary reframings of monuments in a more differentiated way.
Subproject 2 “German Colonial-Era Monuments and the Conceptualization of Space” examines monuments that were erected in Africa and Germany in the context of German colonialism. Increasingly, these monuments are the focus of discussion today. Up to this point, these monuments have been examined primarily from a historical perspective. Still needed are in depth analyses of their design and spatial conceptualizations.
Subproject 3 „Reframing Difficult Heritage in Brazil“ is devoted to current confrontations with ‘difficult heritage’ in that country. Particularly important in this context are artefacts of the transatlantic slave trade. The Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site in Rio de Janeiro, for example, was excavated in 2011 and added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017.
Subproject 4 analyses photography deriving from colonial contexts and asks how photographic imagery can be included in exhibitions today without repeating or restaging the violence expressed in these visual media.
Subproject 5 “Difficult Heritage and the Role of Nature. Nazi-Era Landscape Design in Post-War Germany” analyses the uses of ‘nature’ in the transformation of the Nazi legacy in post-war Germany. Highlighted in particular are continuities in landscape design between the Nazi and the post-war eras. In many cases, a positive attitude toward natural vegetation and landscape design meant a reliance on them as resources in relation to the denazificationn of architectural monuments.
Subproject 6 “Removed, Replaced, Wrapped, Remodelled: ‘Difficult Heritage’ and the case of Christopher Columbus” – More than almost any other historical figure, Columbus is synonymous with European expansion. For this reason, monuments to Columbus were erected in various regions worldwide well into the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, their association with ‘difficult heritage’ has made them the objects of activist and artistic interventions. The project examines strategies of visual scepticism that become identifiable through these interventions.
For more information: https://www.visual-scepticism.uni-hamburg.de/en.html(opens in new window)
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
The project began by successfully identifying specific case studies that allow the comparative analysis of differing strategies for reframing monuments. The choice of monuments to Columbus proved highly promising, since a wide range of artistic solutions have emerged here, especially recently. Valongo Wharf in Brazil also has a high public profile due to its prominence as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and analyses of this monument have offered many new perspectives on patrimonialization processes. How can marginalized memories be given prominent visibility, while at the same time ensuring that difficult or negative aspects of this heritage remain present?
During the first phase of work on the project, the basis for the future monographs was thus laid out in all subprojects. The abstracts can be accessed on the project homepage: https://www.visual-scepticism.uni-hamburg.de/en.html(opens in new window). The team members have taken part in international conferences, where they have presented and discussed their research finding (e.g. the 36th CIHA World Congress of the International Committee of the History of Arts “Matter Materiality”, the XLVII Coloquio Internacional del Historia del Arte "Espacios públicos: formas médios, usos y re-usos”, Universidad Nácional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, and The Warburg Institute, London).
Because the nature-culture relationship plays an important role for all subprojects, the first conference is devoted to the topic of “Difficult Heritage and ‘Nature’: Greening as Forgetting – Greening as Healing?“ The conference is designed to draw attention to the fact that currently the decay and greening of ‘difficult heritage’ is frequently proposed, and is regarded as a viable option in dealing with such artefacts. In the process, however, the political dimension of vegetation and landscape design is often ignored. Current discussions about the redesign of monuments display a problematical proximity to solutions from the post-war period in Germany, when many relics of the Nazi era were transformed by planting vegetation and thereby repressed in public awareness. Since vegetation played an important role as a design tool in propaganda during both colonialism and National Socialism, another prominent topic for the research project, the potential of vegetation as a design material for expressing visual scepticism often has severe limitations, and should therefore be examined critically. A call for papers was launched for the conference, with researchers from eleven countries submitting abstracts. https://www.visual-scepticism.uni-hamburg.de/activities-events/conferences/2024-difficult-heritage-and-nature.html(opens in new window) This approach makes it possible to discuss a wide spectrum of concrete case studies, generating a variety of perspectives on vegetation as a potential design material for generating counter-narratives.
The first roundtable workshop will be devoted to the topic “Visual Scepticism in the Museum. How to Exhibit Difficult Heritage?” (currently in planning).
In order to publish the project results, a publication series has been inaugurated with the de Gruyter publishing house. Four volumes have already appeared or are currently in preparation under the series title “Verflechtung – Aushandlung – Opazität. Kunsthistorische Studien“ / “Entanglement – Negotiation – Opacity. Art-Historical Studies“. Most of these volumes will be published open access. The publications in this series examine processes of entanglement from an art-historical perspective. Entanglement is not understood as levelling, but instead as an acknowledgement of difference as a theme, difference becoming topical itself. Accordingly, processes of entanglement may also result in the failure of exchange processes, in untranslatability, or opacity. The series discusses the consolidation and dissolution of border regimes and markers of difference in various fields and epochs. The publications of the ERC project will form a separate section within this book series.
During the first phase of work on the project, the basis for the future monographs was thus laid out in all subprojects. The abstracts can be accessed on the project homepage: https://www.visual-scepticism.uni-hamburg.de/en.html(opens in new window). The team members have taken part in international conferences, where they have presented and discussed their research finding (e.g. the 36th CIHA World Congress of the International Committee of the History of Arts “Matter Materiality”, the XLVII Coloquio Internacional del Historia del Arte "Espacios públicos: formas médios, usos y re-usos”, Universidad Nácional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, and The Warburg Institute, London).
Because the nature-culture relationship plays an important role for all subprojects, the first conference is devoted to the topic of “Difficult Heritage and ‘Nature’: Greening as Forgetting – Greening as Healing?“ The conference is designed to draw attention to the fact that currently the decay and greening of ‘difficult heritage’ is frequently proposed, and is regarded as a viable option in dealing with such artefacts. In the process, however, the political dimension of vegetation and landscape design is often ignored. Current discussions about the redesign of monuments display a problematical proximity to solutions from the post-war period in Germany, when many relics of the Nazi era were transformed by planting vegetation and thereby repressed in public awareness. Since vegetation played an important role as a design tool in propaganda during both colonialism and National Socialism, another prominent topic for the research project, the potential of vegetation as a design material for expressing visual scepticism often has severe limitations, and should therefore be examined critically. A call for papers was launched for the conference, with researchers from eleven countries submitting abstracts. https://www.visual-scepticism.uni-hamburg.de/activities-events/conferences/2024-difficult-heritage-and-nature.html(opens in new window) This approach makes it possible to discuss a wide spectrum of concrete case studies, generating a variety of perspectives on vegetation as a potential design material for generating counter-narratives.
The first roundtable workshop will be devoted to the topic “Visual Scepticism in the Museum. How to Exhibit Difficult Heritage?” (currently in planning).
In order to publish the project results, a publication series has been inaugurated with the de Gruyter publishing house. Four volumes have already appeared or are currently in preparation under the series title “Verflechtung – Aushandlung – Opazität. Kunsthistorische Studien“ / “Entanglement – Negotiation – Opacity. Art-Historical Studies“. Most of these volumes will be published open access. The publications in this series examine processes of entanglement from an art-historical perspective. Entanglement is not understood as levelling, but instead as an acknowledgement of difference as a theme, difference becoming topical itself. Accordingly, processes of entanglement may also result in the failure of exchange processes, in untranslatability, or opacity. The series discusses the consolidation and dissolution of border regimes and markers of difference in various fields and epochs. The publications of the ERC project will form a separate section within this book series.
Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
The aim of the project “Visual Scepticism. Towards an Aesthetic of Doubt“ is to define the newly coined term ‘visual scepticism’ and to introduce it into scholarly discourse. The term refers to forms of knowledge production that rely on images or take place within images, and which have yet to be systematically investigated. Images present something to view, and the mode of presentation often has an affirmative character. The topic of this research project is the extent to which the mode of presentation can at the same time – paradoxically – be undermined and destabilised. This question will be analysed first on the level of image theory, and secondly through examples of its practical application. The intellectually innovative concept of ‘visual scepticism’ has far-reaching practical implications for museum artefacts and monuments that are now regarded as ‘difficult heritage’ because they embody inhumane ideologies or acts of violence. The much discussed issue of how we are to deal with such artefacts and monuments in public spaces is of great social relevance, but it is difficult to resolve. The research group collects and analyses examples from various regions worldwide and investigates solutions that would allow stakeholders, heritage management practitioners and societies at large to address this heritage without either suppressing entirely or granting it unconditional visibility in public space. It is vital that usable strategies be developed here, since up to this point, many monuments have been provided with little more than information panels. This textual reaction to ‘difficult heritage’ indicates that the aesthetic dimension has been neglected in discussions to date, with serious consequences: such monuments retain their prominence in the urban landscape, while the public impact of their visual rhetoric remains undiminished.
The geographic foci of the project are Europe and the former German colonies, and South America. Through this approach, we intend to demonstrate that ‘visual scepticism’ can never be analysed in isolation from the contexts of specific visual cultures. The design strategies that trigger a destabilization of visual knowledge, of experience and expectations are always culturally and historically specific. The contours of an ‘aesthetic of doubt’ must be continually renegotiated. It is not only the question of what counts as ‘difficult heritage’ in a specific country, something that must be perpetually redefined within patrimonialization processes; the forms taken by critiques of national heritage also vary locally, while at the same time, artistic interventions are entangled with transnational processes, with a global network of art competitions. The project seeks to participate in international exchanges concerning new solutions, and to contribute to approaches to reshaping ‘difficult heritage’, at the same time fostering productive debates about collective memory in public space with the help of artefacts that serve as repositories of historical memory.
Each subproject analyses a specific set of case studies; the monographs that emerge from the individual subprojects are designed to contribute to the development of a theory of ‘visual scepticism’. This concept and its limitations will be discussed at international conferences, with conference papers published in edited volumes. In addition to numerous essays, eight volumes will be published in open access in the series “Verflechtung – Aushandlung – Opazität. Kunsthistorische Studien“ / “Entanglement – Negotiation – Opacity. Art-Historical Studies“ by the publisher de Gruyter. The first volume is entitled “Difficult Heritage and ‚Nature‘: Greening as Forgetting – Greening as Healing?”, the second is "Visual Scepticism in the Museum. How to Exhibit Difficult Heritage?"
The geographic foci of the project are Europe and the former German colonies, and South America. Through this approach, we intend to demonstrate that ‘visual scepticism’ can never be analysed in isolation from the contexts of specific visual cultures. The design strategies that trigger a destabilization of visual knowledge, of experience and expectations are always culturally and historically specific. The contours of an ‘aesthetic of doubt’ must be continually renegotiated. It is not only the question of what counts as ‘difficult heritage’ in a specific country, something that must be perpetually redefined within patrimonialization processes; the forms taken by critiques of national heritage also vary locally, while at the same time, artistic interventions are entangled with transnational processes, with a global network of art competitions. The project seeks to participate in international exchanges concerning new solutions, and to contribute to approaches to reshaping ‘difficult heritage’, at the same time fostering productive debates about collective memory in public space with the help of artefacts that serve as repositories of historical memory.
Each subproject analyses a specific set of case studies; the monographs that emerge from the individual subprojects are designed to contribute to the development of a theory of ‘visual scepticism’. This concept and its limitations will be discussed at international conferences, with conference papers published in edited volumes. In addition to numerous essays, eight volumes will be published in open access in the series “Verflechtung – Aushandlung – Opazität. Kunsthistorische Studien“ / “Entanglement – Negotiation – Opacity. Art-Historical Studies“ by the publisher de Gruyter. The first volume is entitled “Difficult Heritage and ‚Nature‘: Greening as Forgetting – Greening as Healing?”, the second is "Visual Scepticism in the Museum. How to Exhibit Difficult Heritage?"