As the opening event for the cycle of workshops, this event asked general questions that define the whole project and discuss the main problems of the founding a new department of art history. Participants discussed the purpose and conditions of graduate studies in the 21st century, with special consideration for the paradigms of a globalized world and its consequences for the academic field of art history. Aspects of historiography and methodology taht were addressed, included:
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the tradition of art history in the face of changes to and for a global art history (with particular emphasis on the last 15–20 years)
- new approaches such as visual studies, visual culture or Bildforschung
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the impact of these developments on international academic institutions and intellectual discussion
- aspects and conflicts of transdisciplinary research
- challenges in teaching art history in different institutional contexts
- relations between local experiences and global perspectives
- discussions of different narratives of art history
- relations between art history and visual studies and Bildwissenschaft
- relations between museum, gallery and graduate/undergraduate programs
- purpose, structure, organization of graduate programs; how to inscribe a transdisciplinary program into different models of international graduate programs.
