Objects and Organisms: Vivification - Reification - Transformation (Object Studies in Art History, 5)

The interrelations between objects and organisms take many forms, from the microbes known to inhabit medieval manuscripts to the biomorphic forms observable in Art Nouveau lamps, and from the androids cast in American superhero comics to the coral found on Chinese porcelain recovered from shipwrecks. The contributions to this volume investigate various interactions between inanimate and animate matter in art, literature, technology, and other areas of human perception and expression. The book highlights how certain characteristics allow objects to be understood as living organisms, and vice versa. Via a range of dynamics involving vivification and reification, objects and organisms emerge as unstable, transforming within evolving situations.

• Innovative, interdisciplinary object-scientific contribution to critical ecology

• From the early modern period into the 21st century

Ella Beaucamp, 2016 Master in Art History and Byzantine Art History, LMU Munich; subsequently part of research group "Pre-modern Objects. An Archaeology of Experience"; dissertation on marble decoration of Venetian palace façades of the Romanesque period, funded by Gerda Henkel Foundation and the German Study Centre Venice; lives and works in Turin

Romana Kaske, PhD LMU Munich on objects of war in German-language poetry of the Middle Ages; subsequently Academic Fellow, University of Toronto and LMU Munich; she has conducted research on trust and pamphlets in the early modern period; lives and works in Toronto and Munich

Thomas Moser, studied art history, philosophy and architecture in Munich, Paris and Vienna; 2021 doctorate at LMU Munich; fellowships and guest residencies at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2022), Warburg Institute London (2021), Course Research Group "Imaginaries of Power", University of Hamburg (2019/2020), German Forum for Art History Paris (2018); since 2020, university assistant at the Research Department of Art History, TU Vienna

Ella Beaucamp, 2016 Master in Kunstgeschichte und byzantinischer Kunstgeschichte, LMU München; anschließend Forschungsgruppe „Vormoderne Objekte. Eine Archäologie der Erfahrung"; Dissertation zu marmornem Fassadendekor von venezianischen Palastfassaden der Romanik, gefördert von Gerda Henkel Stiftung und dem Deutschen Studienzentrum Venedig; lebt und arbeitet in Turin

Romana Kaske, Promotion LMU München zu Objekten des Krieges in der deutschsprachigen Dichtung des Mittelalters in Germanistik; anschließend Academic Fellow, University of Toronto und LMU München, forschte zu Vertrauen und Flugblättern der Frühen Neuzeit; lebt und arbeitet in Toronto und München

Thomas Moser, Studium der Kunstgeschichte, Philosophie und Architektur in München, Paris und Wien; 2021 Promotion an der LMU München; Fellowships und Gastaufenthalte am Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2022), Warburg Institute London (2021), Kolleg-Forschergruppe „Imaginarien der Kraft", Universität Hamburg (2019/2020), Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte Paris (2018); seit 2020 Universitätsassistent am Forschungsbereich Kunstgeschichte, TU Wien