Research and teaching at the Institute of Art and Art History focus on artistic modernism through to contemporary art and are thus directly relevant to today's social models, current global political debates and transcultural exchange processes. In addition to the traditional art history degree programs, our institute provides the study program for future art teachers: Artistic workshops and curated exhibitions at the institute offer direct insights into current artistic work processes and opportunities for cooperation in teaching.

The fusion of theory and practice that distinguishes our Institute also defines the subject of Art History itself: As one of the younger humanities disciplines that emerged in the 19th century, art history deals with artistic artifacts, whose interpretation takes place in the textual discourse of the sciences, but whose presence demands reflection on sensory perception: The senses and their hierarchies themselves take center stage, as does the knowledge derived from seeing. Pictures not only show, they disturb, influence and conceal, they create boundaries, establish contacts and forms of ambiguity that make social and political processes visible.

The aim of our teaching and research is to explore the potential of contemplating and reading pictures, to show their history and to seek their current relevance beyond simple naming of motifs. How images are to be interpreted is developed in the genesis of artistic works, in design and perception practice as well as in the scientific analysis and communication of artistic artifacts (contemporary and historical image and object cultures). The spectrum of research at our Institute is characterized by a comprehensive media range of objects of investigation (classical pictorial media, architecture, film, photography, digital image media, inter- and transmedia art forms) as well as inter- and transdisciplinary applied methods (image, film and spatial studies, cultural studies, art education, art sociology, postcolonial/gender studies, curatorial studies, artistic research, empirical educational research). In addition, we pursue a specific profile in subject areas that bring together aesthetic and political processes: With the research focus on postcolonialism, we position ourselves in the current critique of racism, we pursue migration-oriented theory formation in transnational image and spatial concepts and deal with global urban cultures of remembrance.