Several paradigms and narratives in art history have been developed for art works originating from the first world, and later transferred to and applied to subfields studying the art of further regions. While this imbalance has been and still is discussed and addressed for the history of collections, on the methodological and theoretical level only few attempts have been made to overcome and address this imbalance. The project members in our team research and study different subfields of the discipline (art history), but develop together in a dialogue new approaches for the study of medieval/pre-modern art. Even the periodical label is problematic in this regard and still reveals its eurocentristic origin. The research team of Global Horizons included members researching medieval/pre-modern art of Armenia, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, France, India/Southasia, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Russia, Spain, Syria, Switzerland, Tangut, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
We have successfully researched the visual analysis of historical modes of representation regarding the representation of Horizons and Pictorial Space in different cultures (Bird-eyes view, Simultanbilder/simultaneous scenes, voids, spaces and stripes) and of the Mapping the Cosmos/Modes of representation in cartography/Cosmological knowledge in diagrams/Combinations of spatial, temporal, and symbolic modes in maps, altar panels and manuscript painting). In working together on similar research questions, but on different objects originating from different subfields and different visual cultures, we develop novel methods and theories to describe the development of representation modes and the history of representation.
In our collaborative efforts we have developed together novel theoretical approaches to address more explicitly the imbalance of extant archives, to better write about gaps in art history, and to collaboratively develop new art historical methods and - eventually new narratives to describe the history of representation overcoming the eurocentristic ones coining the major discussions in the discipline at large.
