Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter organized together with Prof. Dr. Mersmann, Institute of Art History Bonn and Dr. Svea Bräunert, ZEM Brandenburg (and subsitute Prof. in Bonn in WS 25/26) a lecture series ABSTRACTION TODAY!

VITUAL LECTURE SERIES! YOU CAN JOIN VIA ZOOM!

Here is more information and the ZOOM LINK!

From automated navigation to weather forecasts, data visualizations, and painting, abstraction has an undeniable presence in the contemporary world. Yet, it not only represents but also creates worlds. It is an operative concept that likewise possesses an imaginary thrust for perceiving things otherwise. As such, abstraction comes in many different forms: It is an aesthetic, a technology, an epistemology, and a practice. Therefore, it is also a political attitude, a mode of description, a tool of complexity reduction, and an instruction for intervention. Depending on its context and use, it can take on radically different connotations, ranging from dehumanizing to appealing, from affirmative to critical, from incorporated to autonomous.
Taking its cue from the different meanings and applications of abstraction, the international lecture series “Abstraction Today: The Real and the Imaginary” is designed as an interdisciplinary endeavor with a focus on visual media and digital culture. Most digital technologies (like networks, computer simulation or artificial intelligence) and correlated practices are closely connected to different forms of abstraction on different levels. To do justice to the complexity of the phenomenon, the series brings together a group of international scholars, artists, and curators who speak on abstraction today as it unfolds in fields such as art, photography, film, design, image science, visual culture studies, philosophy, and more. Grounding the inquiries into the contemporary conditions of abstraction are contributions focusing on its historical lineage, most importantly its emergence within the discourse of modernism to be understood in its global and postcolonial plurality.

A new text by Jens Schröter is exhibited in the framework of a conceptual art installation by Emma Rüther. The text is on a painting by Gerhard Taubert (as shown on the right) and is exhibited side by side with the painting.

Exhibition opening  17.10.2025, 18 00, Off Space by Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf, Steinstraße 17, 40212 Düsseldorf.

(right: Gerhard Taubert, Spätsommer, 1970, Acryl on canvas, 110 * 110 cm)

Here is the link to the gradually ONLINE FIRST publication of the handbook!

ALREADY 35 PAPERS PUBLISHED! MANY MORE TO COME!

The journal NAVIGATIONEN is published by Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter (together with Prof. Dr. Benjamin Beil, Cologne).

The current issue, edited by Felix Hüttemann and Jens Schröter has the topic »Culinary Sensorics«

Eating is never just a matter of the palate – it is a medial, technical, and cultural event. This issue explores how digital sensors, AI, and social media are reshaping our perception of taste, smell, and texture. From electronic noses and machine tasting to food photography and AI-generated recipes, culinary culture emerges as a field where senses, media, and technologies intersect in new ways.

Open Access version!

Open Access version also here!

Our book with the results of our workshop last year (and even more invited papers), 20 in total... in English and first in print and then in Open Access...

(Preliminary Cover, thanks to Seba)

In a new episode of the legendary podcast »Fotografie Neu Denken« Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter discusses with Andy Scholz the recent changes in image culture and the role of media studies.

Here is the episode.

(and here is the link to my first interview in »Fotografie Neu Denken« from 2021)

In an interview with the Volkswagen-Foundation Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter speaks about the changes and continuities in scientifc practice when working with AI.

Here is the interview.

Martina Leeker from the University of Cologne conducted this interview on artistic research.

Here is the link to the video.

It is an honour to be included in the last book Achim Szepanski, the founder of legendary music label MILLE PLATEAUX, could edit before his death in 2024.

Rest in peace dear Achim.