FOR 3033:  The dimensions of techne in the fine arts (manifestations / systems / narratives)

• Subject Area: Humanities
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 420353590

The research project investigates those aspects of artistic production which may be summarised under the term techne in a heuristic sense. These include manifestations of knowledge which can be taught and learned, put in systematic order, and practically and habitually applied. They also comprise either controlled or intuitive actions driven by such knowledge and skills. The focus of each part project will be moments of revelation, depiction and concealment related to techne, either as traces left on the artefact or articulated in documentation, recorded for posterity in the form of anecdotes or in the shape of treatises on ways and means of production. The objective of the research alliance is to explore the conditions under which we are able to observe techne, in order to develop new methodical approaches and to trigger intellectual debate on its role for the arts. Rather than continue in the vein of traditional dichotomies such as idea versus materia, form versus material, design versus execution, which are still partly prevalent in research, the research group considers the process as such its main concern. Here, conceptions of form, knowledge about material and procedures, virtuoso craftsmanship and machine-made precision enter a dynamic relationship with theoretical reflections upon them. Based on this premise, the group investigates conscious or unconscious handling of material. Its subject comprises the revelation of artistic skill and ability, the role of inventions and innovations within working processes and the development of theory and discourse about knowledge and skills. This also includes the potential for failure in the handling of the object.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Coordination Funds (Applicant Bushart, Magdalena )
• Handling and Instruction in Early Modern How-to Books and Artists’ Manuals (Applicant Lechtermann, Christina )
• Orders, materials, and terminologies of colours in the 18th century (Applicant Steinle, Friedrich )
• Portraits of the Hand - on the Painterly Facture between Originality and Stylization (Applicant Leonhard, Karin )
• Printmaking as Process (Applicant Bushart, Magdalena )
• Techniknarrative. Contextualising Artistic-Technical Procedures in the Early Modern Period (Applicant Haug, Henrike )

• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Magdalena Bushart