Digital Visual Studies

Dealing with questions that arise from the development in the digital humanities plays an important role in the research focus of the department. Computer-aided processes increasingly determine the collection, the management, and the communication of research-related data – from sustained digitization of art historical sources and their automatized evaluation to formats of digital publishing. Considering the mediality of sources and tools, hitherto conventional conceptions of working in the humanities are changing. Apart from a reflection on these radical changes and their epistemological implications on the level of science history and theory, the department encourages the acquisition and mediation of digital competences by introducing an extensive reorganization of the academic IT area at the institute. From 2020 to 2026, the department directs the research project Digital Visual Studies at the University of Zurich.

Digital Visual Studies @ University of Zurich

Digital Visual Studies is a cooperative project funded by the Max Planck Society and hosted by the University of Zurich, starting January 2020. The project’s aim is to establish Digital Visual Studies as to expand Art History towards the Digital Humanities, to modernize its methodologies, and to contribute in forming a first generation of Digital Visual Humanists. The project includes Predoctoral Fellows, Postdoctoral Fellows and Visiting Fellows, who work in the areas of visual, textual, spatiotemporal and multimodal research. Digital Visual Studies is connected with a national and international network of partner institutions and digital initiatives. This cooperative project seeks to generate avant-garde research and methodological, technical, and intellectual innovation.

For the DVS team, projects, and activities see its website: https://dvstudies.net/