Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media

Organisational unit: Institute

Organisation profile

The ICAM researches the conditions, effects and aesthetics of digital media in connection with processes of culturalization, the technologization of social and economic relations, and the generation and archiving of knowledge. Our studies reflect on how (digital) media always also contribute to shaping the signs and objects they store, transmit or process in a specific way. At the same time, we are interested in how certain cultural techniques contribute to shaping the usage and areas of application of digital media.

Researchers at the ICAM explore the cultural and technological history of digital media—from cybernetics and the beginnings of the computer all the way to present-day network technologies, from textual and acoustic to visual forms of media representation, and from the classics to current concepts of media theory formation.

Main research areas

The ICAM researches the conditions, effects and aesthetics of digital media in connection with processes of culturalization, the technologization of social and economic relations, and the generation and archiving of knowledge. Our studies reflect on how (digital) media always also contribute to shaping the signs and objects they store, transmit or process in a specific way. At the same time, we are interested in how certain cultural techniques contribute to shaping the usage and areas of application of digital media.

In the different core areas researchers at the ICAM explore the cultural and technological history of digital media—from cybernetics and the beginnings of the computer all the way to present-day network technologies, from textual and acoustic to visual forms of media representation, and from the classics to current concepts of media theory formation. 

The ICAM maintains close institutional contact and cooperates with the Leuphana, e.g., the Moving Image Lab of the Innovation Incubator, the Leuphana College, the Leuphana Arts Program and the Leuphana Graduate School. Furthermore, the ICAM is responsible for the Audio and Video Labs of the Computer and Media Center of Leuphana. 

  1. 2015
  2. Published

    Ghetto Blasts: Media Histories of Neighborhood Technologies between Segregation, Cooperation, and Craziness

    Vehlken, S., 15.04.2015, Neighborhood Technologies : Media and Mathematics of Dynamic Networks. Harks, T. & Vehlken, S. (eds.). Zürich: Diaphanes Verlag, p. 37-66 29 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  3. Published

    Neighborhood Technologies: Media and Mathematics of Dynamic Networks

    Vehlken, S. (Editor) & Harks, T. (Editor), 15.04.2015, Zürich/ Berlin: Diaphanes Verlag. 240 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesMonographsResearch

  4. Published

    Neighborhood Techologies: An Introduction

    Vehlken, S. & Harks, T., 15.04.2015, Neighborhood Technologies: Media and Mathematics of Dynamic Networks. Vehlken, S. & Harks, T. (eds.). Zürich: Diaphanes Verlag, p. 9-16 8 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  5. Published

    The selfie and the slut bodies, technology and public shame

    Shah, N., 25.04.2015, In: Economic and Political Weekly. 50, 17, p. 86-93 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  6. Published

    When Machines Speak to Each Other: Unpacking the “Social” in “Social Media”

    Shah, N., 29.04.2015, In: Social Media and Society. 1, 1, p. 1-3 3 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Diversity of Play

    Fuchs, M. (Editor), 01.06.2015, Lüneburg: meson press. 111 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesResearch

  8. Published

    Total Gamification: Introduction

    Fuchs, M., 01.06.2015, Diversity of Play. Fuchs, M. (ed.). 1 ed. Lüneburg: meson press, p. 7-19 13 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Niels Werber, Ameisengesellschaften. Eine Faszinationsgeschichte, Frankfurt a.M.: Main: S.. Fischer 2013

    Vehlken, S., 02.06.2015, In: Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte. 38, 2, p. 196-197 2 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsCritical reviewsResearch

  10. Published

    Ethos, Pathos, PowerPoint: zur Epistemologie und (Silicon-Valley-)Rhetorik digitaler Präsentationen

    Hagen, W., 11.06.2015, Medienkultur und Bildung: ästhetische Erziehung im Zeitalter digitaler Netzwerke. Hagener, M. & Hediger, V. (eds.). Frankfurt a. M.: Campus Verlag, p. 177-200 24 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Reflexitvität und System. Die Debatte über Ordnung und Selbstorganisation in den 1970er Jahren“

    Esposito, E. & Hörl, E., 16.06.2015, In: Trivium. 20, p. 2-7 6 p., 1.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review