C06 First Funding Period: History as Material? Artistic Historicizing as an Intervening Practice
This research project centred in the first funding period (2022-2026) around an increased and diversified exploration of history in contemporary art. It looked at artistic works that refer to historical constellations, materials, and narratives and asked how poietic procedures of historicising reflect, deconstruct, and expand historical narratives. The project examined how poietic procedures interrogate the genesis of historical narratives, how they bring processes of drafting and of discarding historical narratives into view, how different historical perspectives are compared and contrasted, and their potential for intervention. According to the sub-project’s working hypothesis, artistic historiography becomes impactful as an interventional practice when poietic procedures not only create dialogue around diverse perspectives on historical narratives but also question contemporary social contexts that are explicitly or implicitly based on these narratives. SP 1 asked how different models of and approaches to artistic historiography intervene in dominant historical narratives as methodical unlearning. SP 2 examined how historical “world orders” and their justifications are subject to artistic critique in colonial contexts.