Departmental Research 2020

BannerV3

Department of Cultural Analysis, DKV

The DKV pursued an intensive reorganisation project until spring 2020: the institutes were dissolved and the remaining research focuses were assigned to the new structure. Among others, this project aimed to deepen the transfer between teaching and research, to enable a dynamic development of teaching (major/minor system) and to systematically integrate PhD programmes.

The transfer between teaching and research was promoted by consistently implementing the new model of professorial roles. Newly established professorships are involved in the areas of teaching, research and the qualification of junior researchers and thus ensure exchange at the level of research content and staff.

Before the summer break in 2020, the department decided to interrupt its reorganisation to wait for the outcomes of the university-wide «Future Research Organization» project. The relevant decisions on professorships and research structures will be taken into account once available.

Prof. Christoph Weckerle, Director of the Department of Cultural Analysis DKV, April 2021

    Department of Design, DDE

    As an integrative unit, the Institute for Design Research (IDE) bundles, supports, coordinates and guides the research conducted by the seven design disciplines based at the DDE.

    This structure ensures close ties between research and teaching (among others, by involving students and graduates in ongoing research projects). Ties are further strengthened by the «Junior Research in Design» programme, which, in addition to mid-tier staff and core faculty, also offers Bachelor’s and Master’s graduates the opportunity to transfer the results of outstanding theses into research projects.

    The large and diverse research output of all DDE disciplines demonstrates that the department continued to pursue, publish and display (online) its research despite the difficult conditions caused by the global pandemic. At the same time, new ideas were generated, concretised and submitted for funding. In addition to winning prestigious national and international awards and publishing their work, both junior IDE researchers and established design researchers very successfully secured national and international project funding.

    The IDE was also actively involved in the first work packages of the ZHdK-wide reorganisation of research.

    Prof. Hansuli Matter, Director of the Department of Design DDE, April 2021

      Department of Fine Arts, DFA

      In 2020, DFA research underwent expansion. In December, Marcel Bleuler was appointed head of PhD studies. He will design and implement a new DFA pre-doc and PhD programme. The programmes will build on the department’s existing PhD ventures (PhD group with 12 doctoral students, supervised by Giaco Schiesser, as well as two PhD projects, to be completed in 2021 as part of the Institute for Contemporary Art Research (IFCAR)-based SNSF research projects). The DFA’s 3rd cycle was awarded another four years of funding by swissuniversities, as part of the PhD programme «Transdisciplinarity Artistic». The programme promotes exchange at the 3rd cycle level between ZHdK’s artistic disciplines. It is directed by a multidisciplinary team involving all five departments. The common focus is on promoting collaboration, critical discourse and the sustainable development of artistic research. The programme partner is Linz University of the Art and Design.

      In order to broaden DFA research competencies, and to strengthen ties between teaching and research at the staff level, five research positions (each with a workload of 20%) were awarded for 12 months in the summer of 2020. Funding was awarded to three lecturers (Marc Bauer, Annemarie Bucher and Monster Chetwynd) and two mid-tier staff (Nina Kerschbaumer and Barbara Preisig).

      Through its research initiatives in 2020, the DFA intensified the transfer between research and teaching at various levels — an endeavour already pursued consistently for several years. By promoting young researchers and by expanding its research activities, the DFA also aims to ensure the high quality of the research carried out at IFCAR in the longer term, thus also contributing to making the Institute’s research more visible.

      Prof. Swetlana Heger-Davis, Director of the Department of Fine Arts DFA; Prof. Christoph Schenker, Head of the IFCAR, April 2021

        Department of Music, DMU

        When ZHdK musicians began improvising live via the Internet with colleagues in other countries about ten years ago, this was initially considered a playful exercises between friends. Participants wanted to save themselves the trouble of travelling while not giving up playing together spontaneously. The first attempts were beset by many technical problems. They worked nevertheless, and soon the idea grew on those involved that the experiment had opened a door behind which waited far greater areas of insight and experience that were worth exploring. This dabbling has long since become an elaborate, SNSF-funded project, which has not only expanded the expected answers in artistic, didactic and scenographic terms, but also become unexpectedly topical in a year when the whole world was forced to retreat into digital communication.

        DMU research builds on and explores questions that arise from artistic urgency. It focuses not on day-to-day events than on downstream indicators of epistemological paths worth pursuing. These explorations begin rather than end with problem solving.

        The same also applies to the DMU’s historical research, which renders questions about the production and reception of recent and older music fruitful for the present. And it is true of our pedagogic or application-oriented research on music physiology: research questions in these areas arise from practice, while open-ended insight grows from a project’s underlying rationale, and the multiple reconnections with the present attest to sustainable value creation.

        Prof. Michael Eidenbenz, Director of the Department of Music, DMU, April 2021

          Department of Performing Arts and Film, DDK

          As far as external funding is concerned, the Institute for the Performing Arts and Film (IPF) will look back at the year 2020 as a failure: none of the four SNSF applications was funded. This unusual lowpoint was put into perspective by the IPF’s reorientation as an «enabling institute» and by developing a sustainable research landscape to promote young researchers.

          1.    Third cycle: PhD

          Swissuniversities approved two IPF participations. An important milestone was reached by developing a DDK doctoral programme for which four years of funding were secured. The first call for PhD candidates was launched and met with great international response.

          2.    PreDoc: PEERS

          At the same time, the PEERS programme for young artists and academics was launched. This one-year PreDoc programme strengthens institutional networking with our international partner universities and experts.

          3.    IPF Publications in the subTexte Series

          • Vol. 16: DisAbility on Stage (Hybrid Media)
          • Vol. 17: Ausweitung der Spielzone (Chronos)
          • Vol. 18: Minor Cinema (JRP|éditions), SNSF project «Schweizer Filmexperimente»
          • Vol. 20: Sinn und Sinne im Tanz (Transcript), Conference proceedings
          • Vol. 21: Performative Sammlungen (Transcript)

          4.    Staff

          Change of leadership at the Research Focus in Film: After eight successful years, Christian Iseli handed over the directorship to Miriam Loertscher, who had already served as co-director in 2020. Yvonne Schmidt took charge of the 3rd Cycle (PhD/Fellowship/ PEERS) and is supported by Anna Wohlgemuth, IPF research assistant. 

          5.    Awards and Impact

          The International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) has established an award in honour of Yvonne Schmidt, who founded the Working Group on «Performance and Disability». The award is presented annually to «emerging disabled scholars/artists»: https://www.iftr.org/news/2020/october/new-scholars-award-in-disability-performance 
           

          Marijke Hoogenboom, Director of the Department of Performing Arts and Film DDK; Prof. Anton Rey, Head of the IPF, April, 2021