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

    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

  2. Published

    Musik und Medium: Kommentar zu: K. Blaukopf (1996), Die Mediamorphose der Musik als globales Phänomen; K. Blaukopf (1996), Mutation durch technische Medien

    Großmann, R., 2011, Systematische Musikwissenschaft: Ziele - Methoden - Geschichte. Auhagen, W., Busch, V. & Hemming, J. (eds.). Laaber: Laaber Verlag, p. 131-140 10 p. (Kompendien Musik; vol. 9, no. 1).

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

  3. 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

  4. Published

    Train Ticket Sharing: Alternative Forms of Computing in the City

    Bialski, P., 31.07.2017, In: The Fibreculture Journal. 29, p. 115-128 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Denk mal! 2016

    Pfaller, R., Horn, E., Klein, S., Bernard, A. & Rammler, S., 2015, Frankfurt am Mainz: S. Fischer Verlag. 268 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesTransfer

  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

    Home for Hire: How the sharing economy commoditises our private sphere

    Bialski, P., 01.01.2017, Sharing Economies in Times of Crisis: Practices, Politics and Possibilities. Ince, A. & Hall, S. M. (eds.). Oxford: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 83-95 13 p. (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  8. Published

    Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association: DiGRA

    Björk, S. (Editor) & Fuchs, M. (Editor), 01.11.2016, Pittsburgh: ETC Press. 261 p. (ToDiGRA; vol. 2, no. 3)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesConference proceedingsResearch

  9. Published

    Gamification: Geheimwaffe oder Bullshit?

    Fuchs, M., 01.01.2017, In: form Design Magazine. 269, p. 57-60 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Phantasmen. Quelques fleurs

    Schwarzhans, W. & Bösenberg, E. S., 10.07.2017, (Mit) Pflanzen kartographieren. Loreck, H., Klier, A. & Lindeborg, S. (eds.). Hamburg: Materialverlag-HFBK Hamburg, p. 84-87 4 p.

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