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.
- artistic events
A lecture
Breimaier, A. (Artist)
01.03.2015Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Transfer
Exhibition: This Might Be a Place for Hummingbirds
Eduardo, S. (Speaker) & Boror, M. (Speaker)
22.11.2019Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Research
Hollis Frampton: ADSVMVS ABSVMVS, In memory of Hollis William Frampton, Sr., 1913–1980, abest - 2018
Breimaier, A. (Organiser) & Gründig, M. (Organiser)
13.04.2018 → 31.05.2018Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Transfer
Ian White – Cinema as a Live Art / Becoming Object - 2019
Breimaier, A. (Organiser)
15.03.2019 → 17.03.2019Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Transfer
kma71 - 2017
Breimaier, A. (Organiser)
01.08.2017 → 31.07.2018Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Transfer
Kopietheater by Ian White - 2010
Breimaier, A. (Speaker)
20.02.2008Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Transfer
Morgan O’Hara: Live Transmissions - 2018
Breimaier, A. (Organiser)
26.04.2018 → 30.05.2018Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Transfer
ÖYVIND FAHLSTRÖM - Avantgarde, Pop & Politics
Kuhn, E. (Curator)
01.04.2022 → 25.04.2022Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic event › artistic events › Transfer
- talk or presentation in privat or public events
3D und die Kino-Höhle. Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
28.05.2014 → 01.06.2014Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
"Branches of an Imaginary Marimba". Indigeneity, Diaspora, and the Nation-State in Contemporary Art Practice
Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)
30.05.2025Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research
Breer, Jonas Mekas und das filmische Tagebuch.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
15.11.2011Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Die Ausstellung „Les Immatériaux“ (Paris, 1985) als Station künstlerischer Forschung
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
06.06.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Filme von Jack Goldstein, Einführender Vortrag im Rahmen der Filmreihe „Details“.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
28.03.2006Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Filmische Gedichte von Werner von Mutzenbecher.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
13.12.2008Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Glimpses und Haikus,die filmische Augenblickspoetik von Jonas Mekas.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
07.11.2015Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Hafnargata - eine fotografische Wegstrecke.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
27.05.2011Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Jonas Mekas’ Filmdiaries.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
07.04.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Laudatio für Eric Hattan
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
21.09.2016Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Leaving Art History? Contemporary Art and Material Practices
Leeb, S. (Speaker) & Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)
10.01.2025Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research
Les Immatériaux, History of an Exhibition
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
01.12.2021Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Les Immatériaux – jenseits des Körpers und diesseits der Sprache
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
30.11.2022Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Education
« Les Immatériaux, pourquoi ? »
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
25.05.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Peter Liechti's Ton- und Bild- und Denkgeflechte. Eine Einführung zu „Hans im Glück. Drei Versuche das Rauchen aufzugeben“
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
17.10.2014Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Transfer
Researching Historical Exhibitions. The Example of Les Immatériaux
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
16.03.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research
Research Presentation from PhD Project "Materiality in Art Practices from Postwar Guatemala: Bodies, Soil, Meat, Cosmos"
Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)
21.11.2024Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research
The curatorial network of Les Immatériaux
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
23.02.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research
The Place of Les Immatériaux in the Histories of Exhibitions
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
09.06.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research
- Conference Presentations
Artist Talk: Edgar Calel - Laberinto de los pájaros
Eduardo, S. (Speaker) & Calel, E. (Speaker)
08.09.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
"A Woman Sitting After Killing" (2001). Reviewing Chantal Akerman's "Jeanne Dielman" (1976).
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
04.04.2017Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Border - the videographic traces by Laura Waddington as a cinematographic memorial.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
30.08.2009 → 01.09.2009Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Combing Wind, Adorning Water. Afro-Indigenous Approximations in the Art Practices of Edgar Calel and Sandra Monterroso
Eduardo, S. (Speaker)
25.05.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Dance, Diaspora, and the Artist's Subject: Edmundo Torres' China Diabla Tradition
Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker)
03.04.2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Das Bildnis als Gegenüber oder die Produktion von Gegenwart
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
28.09.2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Different stories, same actors? Challenges of rewriting transcultural Art History
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
09.12.2014Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Eröffnung des Symposiums "Zur Schwierigkeit des Vergessens. Das Kino von Chantal Akerman"
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
20.10.2016Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Formen in globaler Perspektive - Impulsvortrag
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
24.03.2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Histories of Media Art (Networking) in Deep Europe in the 1990s
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
10.07.2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Transfer
"How soon will anyone dare photograph peppers, after Weston?" – Hollis Frampton’s ADSVMVS ABSVMVS (1982) at Museum Folkwang (2018)
Breimaier, A. (Panel participant)
2020Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Jonas Mekas' glittering Home-Movies: Interaction - Fragmentation - Composition.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
11.12.2014 → 12.12.2014Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Kritik des Maschinenmythos und der Maschinenkunst
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
05.06.2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Maintenance (Art-)Work and the Production of Presence
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
10.05.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Maschinenmythos und Maschinenästhetik
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
15.04.2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Négritude: Hausenstein and Senghor
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
27.03.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Optical Calculus
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
06.11.2020Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Restituting Coevalness
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
10.11.2014Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Robots versus Machines
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
19.11.2020Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Schichten und der Zwischenraum. Scheiben im 3D-Film.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
23.01.2015 → 24.01.2015Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Sounding Immaterial. Sound and Listening in the Exhibition "Les Immatériaux" (Paris, 1985).
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
20.06.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Subjektivität und Selbstreflexion. Drei Formen von Film-Ichs.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
24.06.2010 → 26.06.2010Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Technoscience – Domination – Resistance (Lyotard, Haraway).
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
08.07.2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
The Anamnesis of Matter. Lyotard and the immatériaux
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
03.12.2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
The Challenges of Xibalbá. Contemporary Art Practices between Chixot (Guatemala) and the Underworld of Art
Eduardo, S. (Speaker)
28.04.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
The Digital Image Research Program
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
16.11.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
The Machine as Myth
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
15.05.2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
The Place of Les Immatériaux in the Exhibition History of Media Art, Science and Technology
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
13.09.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
The Ta Moko as a Figure of Art History
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
10.02.2015Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
The Value of Time and the Production of Heritage
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
13.10.2015Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Touching Land. Creative Practices for Planetary Be/Longings
Eduardo, S. (Speaker) & Marivi, V. (Speaker)
25.05.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Tragische Ermüdung. Zum Problem der Kulturkritik der 1920er Jahre
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
27.05.2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Widerständigkeit der Immaterialien. Inszenierung und Eigensinn der Exponate in "Les Immatériaux" (Paris, 1985)
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
01.12.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
Zugang! Kunstprojekte für das französische Minitel-System, 1985
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
22.06.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference Presentations › Research
- Peer review of publicationen
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group (Publisher)
Leeb, S. (Reviewer)
05.2020Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work › Peer review of publicationen › Research
- Academic Consultant
Gutachten Tenure Track
Leeb, S. (Reviewer)
2020Activity: Other expert activities › Academic Consultant › Research
Gutachten Tenure Track
Leeb, S. (Reviewer)
2020Activity: Other expert activities › Academic Consultant › Research
International Program Committee/Art Jury
Broeckmann, A. (Reviewer)
10.06.2021 → 16.06.2022Activity: Other expert activities › Academic Consultant › Research
Projektantrag
Leeb, S. (Reviewer)
01.2021Activity: Other expert activities › Academic Consultant › Research
Projektbegutachtung
Leeb, S. (Reviewer)
2021Activity: Other expert activities › Academic Consultant › Research
Vergleichendes Gutachten
Leeb, S. (Reviewer)
2020Activity: Other expert activities › Academic Consultant › Research
- Visiting an external academic institution
Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport
Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)
07.09.2019 → 13.09.2019Activity: Visiting an external institution › Visiting an external academic institution › Education
Art History Institute in Florence of the Max Planck Society
Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)
20.03.2017 → 31.03.2017Activity: Visiting an external institution › Visiting an external academic institution › Research
Goethe-Institut Bogotá
Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)
07.10.2018 → 04.11.2018Activity: Visiting an external institution › Visiting an external academic institution › Transfer
University of Abomey-Calavi
Leeb, S. (Visiting researcher)
01.2012 → 02.2012Activity: Visiting an external institution › Visiting an external academic institution › Education
- Leuphana academic councils and committees
Leuphana Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and Society (Organisational unit)
Leeb, S. (Office)
07.2022 → …Activity: Membership › Leuphana academic councils and committees › Leuphana Academic Committees
School of Culture and Society (Organisational unit)
Leeb, S. (Office)
2017 → 03.2022Activity: Membership › Leuphana academic councils and committees › Leuphana Academic Committees
School of Culture and Society (Organisational unit)
Leeb, S. (Office)
10.2022 → …Activity: Membership › Leuphana academic councils and committees › Leuphana Academic Committees
- Consultancy
Mitglied des Beirats Bildende Kunst Goethe Institut
Leeb, S. (Consultant)
05.2022 → 04.2025Activity: Consultancy
- Guest lectures
1968 and the consequences for a Postcolonial Art History
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
15.05.2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
'Branches of an Imaginary Marimba'. The Force of Syncretism in Contemporary Art
Eduardo, S. (Speaker)
22.11.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
Colonial Archaeology
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
09.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
Colonial Gothic in Contemporary Art
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
23.03.2017Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Das Unding. Colonial Gothic in Contemporary Art
Leeb, S. (Oral presentation)
10.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Die Malerei der Moderne im Spannungsfeld von Film und Fotografie. Oder: von Seerosen und anderen Oberflächenphänomenen.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
17.11.2015Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
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)
05.06.2024Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Film-Diary/Diary-Film. Autobiografische Tendenzen im Experimental- und Avantgardefilm.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
26.11.2015Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
Haunting the Nation State. Colonial Gothic in Contemporary Art
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
31.05.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Jeff (Rear Window) – ein immobilisierter Handlungsträger zwischen Bewegungsbild und Zeitbild.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
16.12.2016Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Transfer
Kunstgeschichte und kuratorische Arbeit – Zu Ian White: Cinema as a Live Art / Becoming Object im Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst, Berlin (15 – 17. März 2019)
Breimaier, A. (Oral presentation)
04.07.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
La scénografie des "Immatériaux"
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
18.12.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
Le Théâtre du Non-Corps. En conversation avec Jean-Claude Fall.
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
08.07.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Transfer
Marie Menken: Andy Warhol, zur Farbe in Film und Kino.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
05.11.2014Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
Michel Foucault und die Malerei von Edouard Manet.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
19.04.2017Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
Reading Film and Performing Text: Hollis Frampton’s Poiesis
Breimaier, A. (Oral presentation)
23.03.2016Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Symbolische Rückgabe. Zum Vermögen und Unvermögen der zeitgenössischen Kunst im postkolonialen Zusammenhang
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
15.12.2015Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
The Exhibition Les Immatériaux (Paris, 1985)
Broeckmann, A. (Speaker)
27.02.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Education
The Importance of Anticolonialism for '68 and International Solidarity in Art and Film
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
18.10.2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Transfer
Undoing Ethnographic and Archaological Objects
Leeb, S. (Speaker)
26.10.2019 → 28.10.2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Violencia de Estado y Violencia Colonial: Reverberaciones de Edicto Cambio de Nombre
Eduardo Dávila, S. (Speaker), Cumes, A. (Speaker) & Boror, M. (Speaker)
22.03.2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Vom "ästhetischen Bruch" und der filmischen Konstruktion einer Hausfrau.
Kuhn, E. (Speaker)
28.11.2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Research
Vom Unrechtskontext zur Kooperation? Über den Umgang mit dem kolonialen Erbe
Leeb, S. (Panel participant)
06.12.2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Guest lectures › Transfer