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. Published

    The Routledge Companion to Reinventing Management Education

    Steyaert, C. (Editor), Beyes, T. (Editor) & Parker, M. (Editor), 31.05.2016, London : Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 550 p. (Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesBook

  2. Published

    The Question Concerning Technology in China: An Essay in Cosmotechnics

    Hui, Y., 2016, Falmouth: Urbanomic. 346 p. (Mono)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesMonographsResearch

  3. Published

    The Practice of Naturalness: A Historical-Philosophical Perspective

    Borrelli, A. & Castellani, E., 01.09.2019, In: Foundations of Physics. 49, 9, p. 860-878 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    The Power of Information: A Journey Back in Time to the Faultlines of Globalization, Art, and Media in the Early 1990s

    Bunz, M., 2013, The whole earth: California and the disappearance of the outside. Diederichsen, D. & Franke, A. (eds.). Berlin: Sternberg Press, p. 172-176 5 p.

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

  5. Published

    The politics of talk on german free radio stations

    Pinseler, J., 01.02.2008, In: Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. 5, 1, p. 67-85 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  6. Published

    The Place of the Symbolic: Essays on Art and Politics

    Schneider, N. (Editor), Aarons, K. (Editor) & Schürmann, R., 18.10.2024, Zürich: Diaphanes Verlag. 300 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesResearch

  7. Published

    THE PARALLAX OF INDIVIDUATION: simondon and schelling

    Hui, Y., 12.2016, In: Angelaki - Journal of the Theoretical Humanities. 21, 4, p. 77-89 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    The Oxford Handbook on Media, Technology and Organization Studies

    Beyes, T. (Editor), Holt, R. (Editor) & Pias, C. (Editor), 12.12.2019, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 560 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesTransfer

  9. Published

    Theorien des Internet zur Einführung

    Warnke, M., 2011, Hamburg: Junius Verlag . 192 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesMonographsResearch

  10. Accepted/In press

    Theorie des Quantum Computings

    Warnke, M., 15.02.2026, Handbuch Medientheorien im 21. Jahrhundert . Ernst, C., Schröter, J., Sudmann, A. & Krtilova, K. (eds.). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH

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