The terms “figure” and “ground” became fundamental to art-historical analysis and writing over the course of the twentieth century. But is this dichotomy suited to describe premodern art and artifacts? 👀 When I started applying for funding for a small conference in 2019, I had no clue it would all blow up into the 650-page volume it has become. We postponed the conference twice due to the pandemic and published it 2.5 years later — I am grateful for all the fantastic, dedicated people who helped bring it to life. 💨 First and foremost, I’d like to thank @kplehmann and @dddahler for their thoughtful, elegant, and supportive design of the book and typesetting. Many thanks to @deutscherkunstverlag for believing in the project from the start as a multi-lingual open-access volume and @sine_logos for being there along the way. ✨ However, there would be no volume without these incredible authors! Thank you, for your bold ideas, thought-provoking arguments, and eagerness to push for the best results. Cheers! 🥂
Excited to share the cover of my forthcoming book on #goldground and #perspective and #fraangelico 🤩
With many thanks to @teresaende and @half_artprojection and @arachnesrache and so many others — I’m overexcited it’s almost here! #patience #workhardplayhard #forthcoming
🌿 Basel, Don Bosco: Wer sich auf den Konzertabend einstimmen will, kommt am 21. Februar um 18.00 Uhr zur Konzerteinführung und taucht eine Stunde vor dem ersten Ton in die Ideen hinter der Musik ein. Und ja: Das Bild hier ist ein AI-generierter Don-Bosco-„Waldsaal“ – natürlich wachsen die Bäume (noch) nicht wirklich im Saal, aber für GAIA dürfen wir kurz so tun, als ob!
🗣️ Im Gespräch: Komponist Silvan Loher (GAIA) und Inez Colyn vom WWF Schweiz. Inez Colyn leitet beim WWF Schweiz die Abteilung Philanthropie und sorgt mit Partnerschaften und Förderengagement dafür, dass Naturschutzprojekte überhaupt möglich werden.
🎙️ Moderation: Saskia Quené, Präsidentin des Sinfonischen Orchesters Schweiz (SOS)
🌍 Worum es geht: Musik, die Natur nicht dekoriert, sondern ernst nimmt. Und um Naturschutz, der nicht abstrakt bleibt, sondern in konkreten Bildern, Entscheidungen und Möglichkeiten landet.
🐝 Welche Fragen liegen in der Luft? Wie klingt Biodiversität, wenn sie nicht nur Thema, sondern Struktur wird? Was macht ein Komponist mit Wissen über Kipppunkte, Artenverlust, Bienensterben – und wo beginnt dabei Verantwortung? Kann ein Konzert mehr als berühren: kann es Bewusstsein schärfen, Gespräche verändern, Handeln auslösen? Und was heisst das ganz praktisch für uns hier?
⏰ 21. Februar, 18.00 Uhr, Don Bosco Basel
🎶 Konzertbeginn 19.00 Uhr
🎟️ Tickets: Link in Bio!
It has been a year full of research and writing—at home in Switzerland and Tübingen and abroad, in libraries and collections—and a year filled with music!
Bringing ideas to life for @sinfonischesorchesterschweiz has become a slightly exaggerated hobby, but it is also a wonderful way to connect with passionate people beyond academia. This year, I am especially grateful for my friends—for staying true even when I am busy—and for my sister, who brought to life her second son in Geneva. I am looking forward to 2026, even if it always feels a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the year that’s ending. It has been far too short.
I am very fortunate to have received a grant from @bwstiftung to start a new research project with my own team this January on Carolingian diagrams and graphs, on top of my regular faculty position at the @universitaet.tuebingen . “Formen der Zeit” will keep me inspired for the next three years. And still, I cannot wait to see where the coming year will take me.
As always: eyes, ears, and heart wide open. May there be joy!
📸 Pics from this autumn and winter only, portrait (well, it was actually just a snapshot…) taken by @klangundlicht
The terms “figure” and “ground” became central to art history and visual theory over the twentieth century. But are they really the right framework for thinking about premodern art and artifacts? 👀 Between Figure and Ground: Seeing in Premodernity takes a fresh look at how we see and understand this relationship.
At 652 pages, this is the thickest book we’ve designed so far. Yet the design revolves around one simple idea: merging figure and page numbers into one single system. This subtle move creates a dialogue between image and text, figure and ground—reflecting the book’s theoretical questions through its physical form. Huge thanks to @sascq for the great collaboration and for fully supporting our ideas. 💙
Edited by: @sascq
Designed by: @dddahler@kplehmann
Typeface: Bradfort @lineto_com@laurenzbrunner
Published by: @deutscherkunstverlag
Printed by: @beltzgrafischebetriebe
🍄 I learned and read a lot this summer, and then I started writing again, in Diessenhofen and Tübingen, and Amsterdam. I spent a lot of time in solitude. But there was also a lot of music, with @sinfonischesorchesterschweiz and wonderful friends, we celebrated newborns, but I also had to say goodbye. We went swimming between sentences, there were flowers and kisses. And books with images to get lost in, universes to explore. It has been blissful.
🌱 Spring was all about coming home to many places and loved ones while contouring a new research project I’m only starting to imagine.
Firenze — Tübingen — Diessenhofen — Amsterdam — Basel
… and some places in between.
🤍 It certainly feels surreal to win academic prizes when the world is on fire. However, I am deeply grateful for the support my book has received this year because it will help enable me to continue working as an art historian in the future — which means looking for words for the indescribable, reflecting past and present, and honoring art, artists, and artworks. The chance to nurture empathy, ambiguity, and critical thinking through looking at, experiencing, and writing about art can be meaningful in times like these. It is a privilege to make a living out of that.
🏆 Thanks to the jury of the Jan van Gelderprijs @kunsthistorici and the jury of the Hans-Janssen-Preis of the Niedersächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen for acknowledging my book “Goldgrund und Perspektive. Fra Angelico im Glanz des Quattrocento” @deutscherkunstverlag this fall and winter. I'd never thought my year would end with such a bang! 🧚♀️
✏️ The first photo was taken in Cortona @museodiocesanocortona during my last trip to visit Fra Angelico with @annedoreneufeld before submitting my manuscript for publication in 2022.
📸 Amsterdam: @mireilledeputter
📸 Göttingen: Adrienne Lochte
