Temporalities of the Artistic Field. On the Practice, Materiality and Historicity of Artistic Production

In his talk, Hilmar Schäfer will raise questions on how artistic production can be grasped as a movement of practices and materialities through time. To this end, Pierre Bourdieu’s field and practice theory can first be used to establish a conceptual frame of reference. However, his neglect of certain aspects of materiality must be criticised. It will be suggested to supplement the theoretical perspective by conceptual proposals drawn from the Actor-Network theory. Based on art-historical examples as well as on contemporary artistic production, the specific historicity of the art field will then be crystallised and a distinction made between three aspects: practices of working with time, practices of reflexion on temporality in artistic works and the flow of repertories of practices and artefacts through time.

Hilmar Schäfer is research assistant at the chair of comparative cultural sociology at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). His works and publications focus on theories of practice, Actor-Network theory, (post)structuralist sociology as well as sociology of art and culture. He previously worked a.o. for the Revolver Verlag and in the project office of the Kunstraum of the University of Lüneburg. Hilmar Schäfer studied applied cultural sciences at the University of Lüneburg and received his doctorate with a work on »Instability of Practice. Reproduction and Transformation of the Social in the Theory of Practice« from Viadrina.

The lecture is based on a cooperation of KIM, Innovation Incubator at Leuphana University of Lüneburg with Kunstraum of Leuphana University of Lüneburg. The Innovation-Incubator Lüneburg is an EU major project, financed by the European Regional Development Fund and co-funded by the federal state of Lower Saxony.