Theories and Practices of the Original in contemporary Art

This research project focuses on the theoretical and practical ‘survival’ of artworks, including case studies of works by artists such as Dieter Roth, Duane Hanson, Barnett Newman and Joseph Beuys. Linking fragmental object biography and Actor-network-theory, concepts of originality and the “death of the author”, the project strives for a critical understanding of the primary object of art history, the artwork, as an entity that is handed down and stabilized only by changes of its materiality and form, that are performed by various actors other than the artist.