Prof. Dr. Maximilian Schich (Tallinn University)

Rudolf Wittkower Fellow

Department Weddigen

maximilian@schich.info

Publications

Main Focus

Quantitative Aesthetics
Cultural Network Science
Knowledge Graph Cartography
Dynamics of Urban Topography and Visual Representation
Multidisciplinary Mixing

Research Project

Towards a Collaborative Cultural Analysis of the City of Rome

Publications (Selection)

(with Andres Karjus et al.) "Compression ensembles quantify aesthetic complexity and the evolution of visual art", EPJ Data Science, 12, 1 (2023), p. 21.
"Cultural analysis situs", ART-Dok eprint (2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/artdok.00006347
(with Chaoming Song et al.), "A network framework of cultural history", Science 345, 6196 (2014), pp. 558–562. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1240064
"Revealing Matrices", in Beautiful Visualization. Looking at Data through the Eyes of Experts, ed. by Julie Steele and Noah Iilinsky, Sebastopol/CA 2010, pp. 227–254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/artdok.00001154
Rezeption und Tradierung als Komplexes Netzwerk. Der CENSUS und visuelle Dokumente zu den Thermen in Rom, Munich 2009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/artdok.00000700

Curriculum Vitae

Maximilian Schich is currently Professor for Cultural Data Analytics and ERA Chair holder at Tallinn University. Monographically and through multidisciplinary collaboration, Max aims to understand the nature of cultural interaction via a systematic combination of critical and creative aesthetics, qualitative inquiry, quantitative measurement, and computation. Ongoing research builds on a background in art history, network science, computational social science, and an applied experience as a "database pathologist". Max’s PhD monograph pioneered network analysis in art research, focusing on antique reception and visual citation. In 2014, "A Network Framework of Cultural History" in Science Magazine and the Nature video "Charting Culture" made global impact. Max has studied at LMU Munich, HU-Berlin, and Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome. Following a postdoc phase at BarabásiLab in Boston and the group of Dirk Helbing in Zurich, Max joined UT Dallas as an Associate Professor in Arts & Technology, becoming a founding member of the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History. In June 2020, Max moved to Estonia to lead the CUDAN ERA Chair project for Cultural Data Analytics, funded through the European Commission with 2.5 million Euros until August 2024.