Modern Art History
© KuK TU Berlin
Yale University, New Haven

Time period: 23rd – 29th March 2015
Lecturers: Dr. Andrea Meyer und Prof. Dr. Stefan Simon

With its cultural and natural science collections, its predominantly neo-Gothic style campus and the current renovation projects for some of its research facilities, Yale University, a member of the Ivy League, offered an exciting field of study for the excursion participants, who in their studies are primarily concerned with museum and architectural history issues, with the care and preservation of our cultural heritage.

Recently, there has also been a direct connection between TU and YU, as Stefan Simon, Honorary Professor at the Institute of Art History and Historical Urban Studies, was appointed Director of the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH) at YU in spring 2014. Thanks to the close collaboration with Stefan Simon, who enthused his YU colleagues about the visit of the students from Berlin, a lively transatlantic dialogue developed with the directors, curators, conservators, professors and staff of the numerous institutions that welcomed the TU group. Specifically, these included IPCH, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, the Babylonian Collection, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Lewis Walpole Library, and the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

In situ, the dynamic history of the collections, archives and research institutes from their foundation to the present day was reviewed, and their self-image and functions were examined in detail. Topics of discussion included the importance of philanthropy for the establishment of the university museums, the transatlantic transfer of knowledge, art and cultural objects, the inclusion of the collections in university teaching, and the staging of art, nature and history in the museum space. Since the renovation and expansion of the Yale University Art Gallery, which took several years, was only completed in 2012, and since both the Yale Center for British Art, built by Louis I. Kahn, and the Beinecke Library are currently undergoing comparably extensive renovations, special attention was paid to these projects. Finally, a one-day excursion led to the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, which were brought together for the first time after six years of closure in a building designed by Renzo Piano and have been open to the public since autumn 2014. Last but not least, the comparative view of the Yale and Harvard museums allowed us to broaden our perspective on new museum buildings and extensions, as they have been observed worldwide since the 1990s, and thus to initiate a critical discussion of current museum policy.

The excursion could be realised thanks to the generous financial support of the Faculty I - Humanities and Education and the Department of Modern Art History under the direction of Professor Dr. Bénédicte Savoy.

Students:
Christina Christidou. Ann-Kristin Fischer. Anne Heichler. Laura Ilse. Wiebke Jann. Merten Lagatz. Malina Lauterbach. Morena Mordhorst. Anna Pölzleitner. Jean-Luc Rapp. Tessa Theil. Johanna Wölbert.