Research projectsPhoto: Giotto: Vision des Hl. FranziskusForces of Art ...... in the Early Modern WorldThe project examines the significance of the physical concept of "impetus", developed in the early 14th century, focusing on physical and physiological interdependencies.Photo: Goethe: Faust und ErdgeistRomantic ThermodynamicsTheories on Force in the Era of GoetheBetween Herder and Goethe, (literary) aesthetic outlines using models of constancy and transformation of forces/energies indicate ideas that become formalised in thermodynamics around 1850.Photo: Adrian RennerBeyond Naturalism. Aesthetics ...... of Forces in Modernist Literature (1850-1920)Focusing on aesthetic strategies and cultural transfers, the project investigates how nature was conceived as forces(s) in natural sciences and in art and literature from 1850 to 1900.Photo: Wikimedia CommonsDestructive Force ...... of NatureThe research project investigates the narration of catastrophes in the literature of Poetic Realism as a genuinely liminal phenomenon oscillating between nature and culture.Photo: Pietro LorenzettiCast shadows …... more powerful than light and yet deficiencyThe project is dealing with the phenomenon of the cast shadow as vim naturae with regard to its function in medieval and early 15th century painting as well as in natural philosophy.Photo: Hermitage Museum, WGA21980Dynamic landscapesDynamic LandscapesThe research project deals with the dynamic qualities of landscape in early modern art. The focus is on the question of the conditions of representation and their potential effectiveness.Photo: Merian: RaupenForces of Life ...... and the Œconomy of NatureIn a history of knowledge of entomology, the use of the concept of force is examined in connection with related to the concept of Œconomy and ideas about reproduction in invertebrates is examined.Photo: Alexander von HumboldtWhy Are There ...... So Many Species?A synergistic view of ecology, in particular from the viewpoint of evolution, helps to clarify changing conceptions regarding the effects of natural forces in the context of biodiversity.Photo: Mascha Fehse/Lorène GoeselePaysages morts/vivantsLandscapes Between Storages and ImaginariaThe projects sets out from the concept of landscape as archival records in order to investigate its (forms of) appropriation using the concept of 'iconoscape'.Photo: Philipp MüllerTechnical Images ...... of ViolenceFurther information will be added soon.Photo: pixabayNatural Force.On the Cultural History of a Figure of ThoughtWhat force is immanent in nature? The project explores the historical semantics and the aesthetic staging of 'natural forces’ in literary and (popular) scientific texts from the early modern period to the present.