DFG-Centre for Advanced Studies Imaginaria of Force : University of Hamburg

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Photo: Vera Thomann

14 January 2026|Imaginarien der Kraft

Announcement: 20.01.2026 Colloquium with Vera Thomann: Labor in Space, Labor in Time: Literary Terraforming in the German Cultural Imagination (1824–1924)

Dr. Vera Thomann, fellow at the CAS »Imaginaria of Force« in the winter term 2025/26, will hold a lecture on the topic »Labor in Space, Labor in Time: Literary Terraforming in the German Cultural Imagination (1824–1924)«.

Time: Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 04:15 pm
Venue: Gorch-Fock-Wall 3, 20354 Hamburg

Registration...

Photo: QART/Imaginarien der Kraft

13 January 2026|Imaginarien der Kraft

Call: Workshop 18.–20.06.2026 »Verletzliche Landschaften? Empfindlichkeit als ökologische und ästhetische Kategorie«, im Tal – Stiftung Wortelkamp, Hasselbach

The CAS »Imaginaria of Force« (UHH) and the Forum »Designing the Energy Transition« invites applications for the workshop »Verletzliche Landschaften? Empfindlichkeit als ökologische und ästhetische Kategorie«, which will take place from June 18 to 20, 2026 at Hasselbach, im Tal – Stiftung Wortelkamp.

In the wake of the...

Poster Tagung Avantgarden 2026 (Ausschnitt)

Photo: Gestaltung: QART Büro für Gestaltung, Abbildung: Francis Picabia, Sans titre, um 1920. Copyright: bpk / Nationalgalerie, SMB, Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg / Volker-H. Schneider

9 January 2026|Imaginarien der Kraft

Announcement: 04.–06.02.2026 Conference »Figurations of Force in the Avant-Gardes between 1900 and 1940«

The emphatic evocation of ›forces‹ can be regarded as one of the defining features of avant-garde movements—both within and beyond Europe—between 1900 and 1940. Bringing together case studies from a range of disciplines, this conference seeks to explore the diverse artistic strategies and forms through which notions of...

Photo: Stephan Schmid

16 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Announcement: 13.01.2026 Guest lecture of Stephan Schmid: Powers, Laws, and Successions: On the Transformation of the Notion of Cause in the Early Modern Period

Prof. Dr. Stephan Schmid, Professor of History of Philosophy at the University of Hamburg, will hold a lecture on the topic »Powers, Laws, and Successions: On the Transformation of the Notion of Cause in the Early Modern Period«.

What exactly does it mean and on account of what is it that one thing—such as a hot stove—has...

Photo: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6. Januar 2015, Foto: Nintendo

15 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Research report: Thomas Hensel: ›How to Equip Power Skeleton‹. Reflections on Game Mechanics of the Video Game

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hensel was a fellow at the CAS »Imaginaria of Force« from October 2024 to March 2025. A short report on his research on the topic »›How to Equip Power Skeleton‹. Reflections on Game Mechanics of the Video Game« is now available online.

Photo: Katja Klein

11 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Cornelia Zumbusch receives Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2026

Dr. Cornelia Zumbusch, Professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Hamburg, is one of ten scientists to receive the 2026 Leibniz Prize, which is endowed with €2.5 million. Germany's most important research funding award is presented by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Further information...

Nicolas Poussin: Achilles on Skyros,1656.

Photo: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts/Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, Inv.-Nr. 57.2.

10 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Research report: Victor Stoichita: Gender Troubles. The Achilles Heel

Prof. em. Victor Stoichita was a fellow at the CAS »Imaginaria of Force« from December 2024 to January 2025. A short report on his research on the topic »Gender Troubles. The Achilles Heel« is now available online.

Photo: Herbert Weber

10 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Announcement: 06.01.2026 Colloquium with Anastasia Kubrak: Lithium. On Bathing and Mining Grounds, 1817–1914 and 2015–2024

Anastasia Kubrak, M.A., fellow at the CAS »Imaginaria of Force« in the winter term 2025/26, will present her current research project »Lithium. On Bathing and Mining Grounds, 1817–1914 and 2015–2024«.

Time: Tuesday, January 6, 2026, 4:15 pm
Venue: Gorch-Fock-Wall 3, 20354 Hamburg

Registration: caroline.herfert@uni-hamburg.de

Photo: Isabel James

6 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Announcement: 16.12.2025 Colloquium with Magdalena Grüner: Reflective Matter: Metallic Paint and the Energetic Imagination in Hilma af Klint's Nature Studies (1919/1920)

Dr. Magdalena Grüner, fellow at the CAS »Imaginaria of Force« in the winter term 2025/26, will present her current research project »Reflective Matter: Metallic Paint and the Energetic Imagination in Hilma af Klint's Nature Studies (1919/1920)«.

Time: Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 4:15 pm
Venue: Gorch-Fock-Wall 3, 20354...

Piero di Cosimo: A Hunting Scene (Detail), ca. 1494–1500

Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (75.7.2). Gift of Robert Gordon, 1875

5 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Announcement: 11./12.12.2025 and 22.01.2026 Workshop »Righteous Violence? Moral Ambivalence in Early Modern Art«, Rome and Hamburg

The question of when violence is morally reprehensible and whether—and under what conditions—it can be justified remains of pressing relevance today. At the same time, it calls for both critical reflection and historical contextualization. The workshop »Righteous Violence? Moral Ambivalence in Early Modern Art«, which seeks...

Henri Matisse: Large Head of Katia, c. 1950–1951.

Photo: Musée départemental Matisse/Donation of the artist, 1952. Inv. 1952-30. Photograph: Musée départemental Matisse/Philip Bernard.

5 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Research report: Huiming Jia: The Transformative Force: Rediscovering the Chinese Concept of "Rhythmic Vitality" in Early Twentieth-Century Europe

Dr. Huiming Jia was a fellow at the CAS »Imaginaria of Force« from October 2024 to March 2025. A short report on her research on the topic »The Transformative Force: Rediscovering the Chinese Concept of Rhythmic Vitality in Early Twentieth-Century Europe« is now available online.

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 73r, Descent from the Cross c. 1500. Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximillian and Associates.

Photo: The Cleveland Museum of Art / Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1963.256.73.a.

5 December 2025|Imaginarien der Kraft

Research report: Daniela Bohde: The Dynamics of Time and Space in late Medieval and Early Modern Depictions of the Passion

Prof. Dr. Daniela Bohde was a fellow at the CAS »Imaginaria of Force« from October 2024 to March 2025. A short report on her research on the topic »The Dynamics of Time and Space in late Medieval and Early Modern Depictions of the Passion« is now available online.

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