Inaugural Lecture by Professor Dr. Ewa Machotka

We warmly invite colleagues, students, and friends of East Asian art to the inaugural lecture of Prof. Dr. Ewa Machotka, Chair of East Asian Art History at the  University of Zurich on April 27, 2026.

In her lecture, “The Presence of Absence: (Disaster and) the Ethics of Seeing in Japanese Visual Culture,” Prof. Machotka will explore how Japanese visual culture engages with catastrophe, memory, and the ethical dimensions of looking. The lecture will be followed by an apéro to continue the conversation and celebrate the occasion. 

The lecture takes place on Monday, 27 April 2026, 19:00 in the Main Auditorium (KOL-G-201), Main Building,  University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich.

​​​Everyone is very welcome to attend (no registration required).
We would be delighted to see you!

Images:
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760–1849), Umezawa Manor in Sagami Province from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Sōshū Umezawa zai 相州梅澤, Fugaku sanjūrokkei 冨嶽三十六景), woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 25.7 x 38.4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art (JP2981). https://www.metmuseum.org/de/art/collection/search/55738 (C0).

The Great Kanto Earthquake, Ruins of the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo ca. 1923, photograph, 3,180 × 2,230 pixels, urbz.net, https://www.flickr.com/photos/urbzoo/3767766524/ (CC-BY-2.0).