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. 2014
  2. Published

    Images of Feasibility: On the Viscourse of Climate Engineering

    Schrickel, I., 04.2014, Image Politics of Climate Change: Visualizations, Imaginations, Documentations. Schneider, B. & Nocke, T. (eds.). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, p. 363-382 20 p.

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

  3. Published

    Between Risk, Beauty and the Sublime: The Visualization of Climate Change in Media Coverage during COP 15 in Copenhagen 2009

    Grittmann, E., 03.2014, Image politics of climate change: visualizations, imaginations, documentations. Schneider, B. & Noske, T. (eds.). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, p. 127-153 27 p. ( Image; vol. 55).

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

  4. Published

    Agentenspiele. Crowd Management, Sozialsimulation und Big Data

    Vehlken, S. & Pias, C., 01.02.2014, Managementperspektiven für die Zivilgesellschaft des 21. Jahrhunderts: Management als Liberal Art. von Müller, C. & Zinth, C.-P. (eds.). Berlin: Springer, p. 167-182 16 p.

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

  5. Published

    Die Kunst des Defensivspiels. Der Briefwechsel zwischen Hans Blumenberg und Jacob Taubes

    Voller, C., 02.2014, In: Merkur. 68, 777, p. 162-165 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Lifted: A Cultural History of the Elevator

    Bernard, A., 01.01.2014, New York: NYU Press. 309 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesBook

  7. Published

    Performing university space: Multiplicity, Relationality, Affect

    Beyes, T. & Michels, C., 01.01.2014, The Physical University: Contours of Space and Place in Higher Education. Temple, P. (ed.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 15-33 19 p. 141021

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  8. Published

    How should we fund open access monographs and what do you think is the most likely way that funding will happen?

    Davies, M. C. R., Ayris, P., Stone, G., Cheshire, J., Jackson, R., Hacker, A., Bunz, M., Ferwerda, E., Newton, H., Dacos, M., Mounier, P. & Neuman, Y., 01.2014, In: Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community. 27, SUPPL. 1, p. 45-50 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    3DMIN – Challenges and Interventions in Design, Development and Dissemination of New Musical Instruments.

    Bovermann, T., Hinrichsen, A., Hildebrand Marques Lopes, D., de Campo, A., Egermann, H., Förstel, A., Hardjowirogo, S.-I., Pysiewciz, A. & Weinzierl, S., 2014, Proceedings - 40th International Computer Music Conference, ICMC 2014 and 11th Sound and Music Computing Conference, SMC 2014 - Music Technology Meets Philosophy: From Digital Echos to Virtual Ethos. Kouroupetroglou, G. & Georgaki, A. (eds.). National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Vol. 2. p. 1637-1641 5 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Another new museum? Imagining the space of art in the creative city

    Beyes, T., Steyaert, C. & Michels, C., 2014, In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration. 18, 3, p. 9-28 21 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Ästhetik des Digitalen: Das Digitale und die Berechenbarkeit

    Warnke, M., 2014, In: Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und Allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft . 59, 2, p. 278-286 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review