Professorship for Contemporary Art

Organisational unit: Professoship

Organisation profile

Research and teaching at the Professorship of Contemporary Art focuses on art from the 1960s to the present. We understand art as a material and an intellectual practice, which requires an intensive engagement with artistic processes as well as a reflection on theories of art and culture and socio-political discussions. The emphasis of the professorship is placed on the transcultural interconnections of art, decoloniality, gender issues, art theory, and art criticism.

Main research areas

Contemporary art is characterized in particular by dissolving traditional genres, questioning the formation of canons, inventing new genres and formats, critically examining its own conditions of production, and intervening in social processes. Thus, in addition to analyzing artworks and exploring artistic objects, thinking about the socio-political horizon of art is also an essential part of the study of contemporary art. In this way, the study of contemporary art not only gives students a good knowledge of contemporary art, artistic thinking, agency, research, and an insight into most recent developments of art historical research and methods, but also enables students to participate in current socio-political debates through the lens of art.

The teaching offered by the Professorship of Contemporary Art has most recently included undergraduate seminars such as Methods of Art Studies, Introduction to Art History as Cultural Studies, Transcultural Art History, as well as seminars on topics such as Ownership and Property in Art and Cultural Theory, Critique of Subjectivity in Contemporary Art, Documenta 15 - Artist Collectives, Production/Reproduction - Female Labor in Art and Cinema, Curating Video Art, Forms of Documentary Film, Canon/Canon Criticism, Photography and Feminism, Science Fiction, Visual Culture and the Afterlife of Colonialism, and many more.

Leuphana University is one of the few universities that has its own artistic project space: The Kunstraum, with its archive of more than thirty years of exhibition practice. Working with artists is an essential part of studying contemporary art at Leuphana. In exchanges with artists and curators, in project seminars and excursions, students deal intensively with artistic processes and participate in the production of exhibitions. In this way, students get to know professional fields of practice. 

The Archipelago Lab also regularly invites contemporary artists and cultural producers.

The Halle für Kunst in Lüneburg offers students further opportunities to engage intensively with contemporary art.

With the Leuphana Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture and Society, the university established its own Artists-in-Residence program, where international contemporary artists are invited to develop new work. Their activities will become visible in public presentations, participation in seminars, and exhibitions at the Kunstraum.

  1. artistic events
  2. A lecture

    Breimaier, A. (Artist)

    01.03.2015

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsTransfer

  3. Exhibition: This Might Be a Place for Hummingbirds

    Eduardo, S. (Speaker) & Boror, M. (Speaker)

    22.11.2019

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsResearch

  4. Hollis Frampton: ADSVMVS ABSVMVS, In memory of Hollis William Frampton, Sr., 1913–1980, abest - 2018

    Breimaier, A. (Organiser) & Gründig, M. (Organiser)

    13.04.201831.05.2018

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsTransfer

  5. Ian White – Cinema as a Live Art / Becoming Object - 2019

    Breimaier, A. (Organiser)

    15.03.201917.03.2019

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsTransfer

  6. kma71 - 2017

    Breimaier, A. (Organiser)

    01.08.201731.07.2018

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsTransfer

  7. Kopietheater by Ian White - 2010

    Breimaier, A. (Speaker)

    20.02.2008

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsTransfer

  8. Morgan O’Hara: Live Transmissions - 2018

    Breimaier, A. (Organiser)

    26.04.201830.05.2018

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsTransfer

  9. ÖYVIND FAHLSTRÖM - Avantgarde, Pop & Politics

    Kuhn, E. (Curator)

    01.04.202225.04.2022

    Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventartistic eventsTransfer

  10. talk or presentation in privat or public events
  11. 3D und die Kino-Höhle. Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    28.05.201401.06.2014

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  12. "Branches of an Imaginary Marimba". Indigeneity, Diaspora, and the Nation-State in Contemporary Art Practice

    Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)

    30.05.2025

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsResearch

  13. Breer, Jonas Mekas und das filmische Tagebuch.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    15.11.2011

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  14. Die Ausstellung „Les Immatériaux“ (Paris, 1985) als Station künstlerischer Forschung

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    06.06.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  15. Filme von Jack Goldstein, Einführender Vortrag im Rahmen der Filmreihe „Details“.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    28.03.2006

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  16. Filmische Gedichte von Werner von Mutzenbecher.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    13.12.2008

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  17. Glimpses und Haikus,die filmische Augenblickspoetik von Jonas Mekas.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    07.11.2015

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  18. Hafnargata - eine fotografische Wegstrecke.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    27.05.2011

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  19. Jonas Mekas’ Filmdiaries.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    07.04.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  20. Laudatio für Eric Hattan

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    21.09.2016

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  21. Leaving Art History? Contemporary Art and Material Practices

    Leeb, S. (Speaker) & Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)

    10.01.2025

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsResearch

  22. Les Immatériaux, History of an Exhibition

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    01.12.2021

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  23. Les Immatériaux – jenseits des Körpers und diesseits der Sprache

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    30.11.2022

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsEducation

  24. « Les Immatériaux, pourquoi ? »

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    25.05.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  25. Peter Liechti's Ton- und Bild- und Denkgeflechte. Eine Einführung zu „Hans im Glück. Drei Versuche das Rauchen aufzugeben“

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    17.10.2014

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsTransfer

  26. Researching Historical Exhibitions. The Example of Les Immatériaux

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    16.03.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsResearch

  27. Research Presentation from PhD Project "Materiality in Art Practices from Postwar Guatemala: Bodies, Soil, Meat, Cosmos"

    Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)

    21.11.2024

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsResearch

  28. The curatorial network of Les Immatériaux

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    23.02.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsResearch

  29. The Place of Les Immatériaux in the Histories of Exhibitions

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    09.06.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationtalk or presentation in privat or public eventsResearch

  30. Conference Presentations
  31. Artist Talk: Edgar Calel - Laberinto de los pájaros

    Eduardo, S. (Speaker) & Calel, E. (Speaker)

    08.09.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  32. "A Woman Sitting After Killing" (2001). Reviewing Chantal Akerman's "Jeanne Dielman" (1976).

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    04.04.2017

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  33. Border - the videographic traces by Laura Waddington as a cinematographic memorial.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    30.08.200901.09.2009

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  34. Combing Wind, Adorning Water. Afro-Indigenous Approximations in the Art Practices of Edgar Calel and Sandra Monterroso

    Eduardo, S. (Speaker)

    25.05.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  35. Dance, Diaspora, and the Artist's Subject: Edmundo Torres' China Diabla Tradition

    Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)

    03.04.2025

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  36. Das Bildnis als Gegenüber oder die Produktion von Gegenwart

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    28.09.2022

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  37. Different stories, same actors? Challenges of rewriting transcultural Art History

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    09.12.2014

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  38. Eröffnung des Symposiums "Zur Schwierigkeit des Vergessens. Das Kino von Chantal Akerman"

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    20.10.2016

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  39. Formen in globaler Perspektive - Impulsvortrag

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    24.03.2022

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  40. Histories of Media Art (Networking) in Deep Europe in the 1990s

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    10.07.2021

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsTransfer

  41. Jonas Mekas' glittering Home-Movies: Interaction - Fragmentation - Composition.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    11.12.201412.12.2014

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  42. Kritik des Maschinenmythos und der Maschinenkunst

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    05.06.2021

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  43. Maintenance (Art-)Work and the Production of Presence

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    10.05.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  44. Maschinenmythos und Maschinenästhetik

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    15.04.2021

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  45. Négritude: Hausenstein and Senghor

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    27.03.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  46. Optical Calculus

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    06.11.2020

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  47. Restituting Coevalness

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    10.11.2014

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  48. Robots versus Machines

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    19.11.2020

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  49. Schichten und der Zwischenraum. Scheiben im 3D-Film.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    23.01.201524.01.2015

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  50. Sounding Immaterial. Sound and Listening in the Exhibition "Les Immatériaux" (Paris, 1985).

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    20.06.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  51. Subjektivität und Selbstreflexion. Drei Formen von Film-Ichs.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    24.06.201026.06.2010

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  52. Technoscience – Domination – Resistance (Lyotard, Haraway).

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    08.07.2022

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  53. The Anamnesis of Matter. Lyotard and the immatériaux

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    03.12.2021

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  54. The Challenges of Xibalbá. Contemporary Art Practices between Chixot (Guatemala) and the Underworld of Art

    Eduardo, S. (Speaker)

    28.04.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  55. The Digital Image Research Program

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    16.11.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  56. The Machine as Myth

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    15.05.2018

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  57. The Place of Les Immatériaux in the Exhibition History of Media Art, Science and Technology

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    13.09.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  58. The Ta Moko as a Figure of Art History

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    10.02.2015

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  59. The Value of Time and the Production of Heritage

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    13.10.2015

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  60. Touching Land. Creative Practices for Planetary Be/Longings

    Eduardo, S. (Speaker) & Marivi, V. (Speaker)

    25.05.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  61. Tragische Ermüdung. Zum Problem der Kulturkritik der 1920er Jahre

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    27.05.2018

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  62. Widerständigkeit der Immaterialien. Inszenierung und Eigensinn der Exponate in "Les Immatériaux" (Paris, 1985)

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    01.12.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  63. Zugang! Kunstprojekte für das französische Minitel-System, 1985

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    22.06.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

  64. Peer review of publicationen
  65. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group (Publisher)

    Leeb, S. (Reviewer)

    05.2020

    Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial workPeer review of publicationenResearch

  66. Academic Consultant
  67. Gutachten Tenure Track

    Leeb, S. (Reviewer)

    2020

    Activity: Other expert activitiesAcademic ConsultantResearch

  68. Gutachten Tenure Track

    Leeb, S. (Reviewer)

    2020

    Activity: Other expert activitiesAcademic ConsultantResearch

  69. International Program Committee/Art Jury

    Broeckmann, A. (Reviewer)

    10.06.202116.06.2022

    Activity: Other expert activitiesAcademic ConsultantResearch

  70. Projektantrag

    Leeb, S. (Reviewer)

    01.2021

    Activity: Other expert activitiesAcademic ConsultantResearch

  71. Projektbegutachtung

    Leeb, S. (Reviewer)

    2021

    Activity: Other expert activitiesAcademic ConsultantResearch

  72. Vergleichendes Gutachten

    Leeb, S. (Reviewer)

    2020

    Activity: Other expert activitiesAcademic ConsultantResearch

  73. Visiting an external academic institution
  74. Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport

    Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)

    07.09.201913.09.2019

    Activity: Visiting an external institutionVisiting an external academic institutionEducation

  75. Art History Institute in Florence of the Max Planck Society

    Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)

    20.03.201731.03.2017

    Activity: Visiting an external institutionVisiting an external academic institutionResearch

  76. Goethe-Institut Bogotá

    Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)

    07.10.201804.11.2018

    Activity: Visiting an external institutionVisiting an external academic institutionTransfer

  77. University of Abomey-Calavi

    Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)

    01.201202.2012

    Activity: Visiting an external institutionVisiting an external academic institutionEducation

  78. Leuphana academic councils and committees
  79. Leuphana Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and Society (Organisational unit)

    Leeb, S. (Office)

    07.2022 → …

    Activity: MembershipLeuphana academic councils and committeesLeuphana Academic Committees

  80. School of Culture and Society (Organisational unit)

    Leeb, S. (Office)

    201703.2022

    Activity: MembershipLeuphana academic councils and committeesLeuphana Academic Committees

  81. School of Culture and Society (Organisational unit)

    Leeb, S. (Office)

    10.2022 → …

    Activity: MembershipLeuphana academic councils and committeesLeuphana Academic Committees

  82. Consultancy
  83. Kunstbeirat

    Leeb, S. (Consultant)

    05.202204.2025

    Activity: Consultancy

  84. Mitglied des Beirats Bildende Kunst Goethe Institut

    Leeb, S. (Consultant)

    05.202204.2025

    Activity: Consultancy

  85. Guest lectures
  86. 1968 and the consequences for a Postcolonial Art History

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    15.05.2018

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  87. 'Branches of an Imaginary Marimba'. The Force of Syncretism in Contemporary Art

    Eduardo, S. (Speaker)

    22.11.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  88. Colonial Archaeology

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    09.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  89. Colonial Gothic in Contemporary Art

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    23.03.2017

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  90. Das Unding. Colonial Gothic in Contemporary Art

    Leeb, S. (Oral presentation)

    10.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  91. Expansive Museality: Camila Caris Seguel in Conversation with Sebastián Eduardo Dávila on Museo del Mundo and the Garífuna Nation

    Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker) & Caris Seguel, C. (Speaker)

    05.06.2024

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  92. Film-Diary/Diary-Film. Autobiografische Tendenzen im Experimental- und Avantgardefilm.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    26.11.2015

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  93. Haunting the Nation State. Colonial Gothic in Contemporary Art

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    31.05.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  94. Jeff (Rear Window) – ein immobilisierter Handlungsträger zwischen Bewegungsbild und Zeitbild.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    16.12.2016

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesTransfer

  95. La scénografie des "Immatériaux"

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    18.12.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  96. Le Théâtre du Non-Corps. En conversation avec Jean-Claude Fall.

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    08.07.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesTransfer

  97. Marie Menken: Andy Warhol, zur Farbe in Film und Kino.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    05.11.2014

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  98. Michel Foucault und die Malerei von Edouard Manet.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    19.04.2017

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  99. Reading Film and Performing Text: Hollis Frampton’s Poiesis

    Breimaier, A. (Oral presentation)

    23.03.2016

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  100. Symbolische Rückgabe. Zum Vermögen und Unvermögen der zeitgenössischen Kunst im postkolonialen Zusammenhang

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    15.12.2015

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  101. The Exhibition Les Immatériaux (Paris, 1985)

    Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)

    27.02.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesEducation

  102. The Importance of Anticolonialism for '68 and International Solidarity in Art and Film

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    18.10.2018

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesTransfer

  103. Undoing Ethnographic and Archaological Objects

    Leeb, S. (Speaker)

    26.10.201928.10.2019

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  104. Violencia de Estado y Violencia Colonial: Reverberaciones de Edicto Cambio de Nombre

    Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker), Cumes, A. (Speaker) & Boror, M. (Speaker)

    22.03.2025

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  105. Vom "ästhetischen Bruch" und der filmischen Konstruktion einer Hausfrau.

    Kuhn, E. (Speaker)

    28.11.2018

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesResearch

  106. Vom Unrechtskontext zur Kooperation? Über den Umgang mit dem kolonialen Erbe

    Leeb, S. (Panel participant)

    06.12.2023

    Activity: Talk or presentationGuest lecturesTransfer

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