Aesthetic Languages of the Public Sphere: Paradigm Shifts and „Long Traditions“.

21.1.2026
14:00-14:30 Anna Schober & Philipp Zitzlsperger: Introduction

1. Film and AI aesthetics as spies of the transformation of the public sphere
14:30-15:15 Valerio Coladonato, Claire Demoulin:
Returning Émigrés and the Aesthetics of “Reconstruction”: Post-WWII Cinema and Public Sphere in Germany and Italy

15:15-16:00 Julian Blunk:
Art in court: On aesthetic judgment in feature films

16:00-16:30 Pause

16:30-17:15 Annapaola Vacanti:
Synthetic visual landscapes in the age of Generative AI

22.1.2026
2. Spaces of political action
09:30-10:15 Dietrich Erben:
Codes of antiquity and political communication in early modern art

10:15-11:00 Godehard Janzing:
Political Violence and Urban Space in Paris, 1835

11:00-11:30 Pause

11:30-12:15 Martina Nibbeling-Wrießnig:
Subjectivity as an aesthetic concept: places, politics, public diplomacy

12:15-14:30 Lunch

3. Museums as forums of the public sphere
14:30-15:15 Eva Kernbauer:
Exposition, Exhibition, Prostitution: Gendered Public Spheres of Art around 1800

15:15-16:00 Luise Reitstätter:
On Admission Policies and Codes of Conduct: Disciplined Bodies in the Art Museum between Aesthetic Perception and Social Gathering

16:00-16:30 Pause

4. Performance in public space
16:30-17:15 Magdalena Nieslony:
The naked truth? VALIE EXPORT's critique of the media's distortion of perception

17:15-18:00 Denis Viva:
In/visibilization of the Migrant Subject: Maurizio Cattelan’s A. C. Forniture Sud (1991)

23.1.2026
5. Social encounters in public space
09:30-10:15 Florian Gucher:
The dandy as an eccentric system breaker: Politics of aesthetic staging in art and public life

10:15-11:00 Gabriele Lorenzoni:
Allegory of Public Happiness: Art, Solidarity, and the Politics of Joy

11:00-11:30 Pause

11:30-12:15 Elisabeth Fritz:
„… where one can go for a walk and enjoy oneself”. Representations of public bathing areas as a socio-aesthetic sphere beyond political action

12:15-12:45 Conclusion

Organized by Anna Schober and Philipp Zitzlsperger