Events
The dominant idea of the social and political effectiveness of aesthetics relies on empowerment: weak, minoritarian, insufficiently or not at all represented positions are given the chance of attention, recognition and access to the public sphere by means of artistic appreciation. Art invites these socially weak practices, and sometimes also the individuals themselves, into its spaces of appearance in order to amplify the voices of those “who have no part” (Rancière). Whether the hoped-for effects actually materialize often remains unclear because the window of attention usually closes when the art event ends. The conference will be concerned with practices that do without speculating on such empowerment: weak practices that accept or even affirm their weakness, engaging with and in the weakness of their own position in order to explore what low-energy enactment can produce for tactics of life and survival, acting or agency. Based on the hypothesis that power is different from strength, we want to ask about the power potentials of weak practices. The aesthetic comes into consideration as a mode of experience that enables processes of becoming more sensitive to effects by partially suspending the social pressure to make an impact.
January 29 & 30, 2026
Kulturcampus Domäne Marienburg, University of Hildesheim
Organized in cooperation between the Graduate School 2477 „Ästhetische Praxis“/“Aesthetic Practice“ and Kai van Eikels (DFG Heisenberg Fellow)
Contributions by: Leigh Biddlecome (writer / curator, Florence / Berlin), Mariama Diagne (LMU München), Susanne Foellmer (Coventry University), Ursula Frohne (Universität Münster), Jule Govrin (Universität Hildesheim), Katharina Hausladen (Folkwang Pop-Institut Bochum), Alexandra Hennig (Mousonturm Frankfurt), Marietta Kesting (MUK Wien / ici Berlin), Jörg Kreienbrock (Northwestern University, Chicago), Carl Lavery (University of Glasgow), Hendrik Quast (Stockholm University of the Arts / Zürcher Hochschule der Künste), Koki Tanaka (video artist, Kyoto), Maxi Wallenhorst (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg) and Lukas Graf, André Hinderlich, Julia Rüegger, Kai van Eikels (Research Training Group „Aesthetic Practice“)
Interested participants are warmly invited.
Registration at: GRK2477(at)uni-hildesheim.de
Further information will follow shortly.
The annual conferences of the Research Training Group are a central forum for academic exchange within and outside the Research Training Group. They bring together fellows, international guests and experts from various disciplines to discuss current questions of aesthetic practice.
The thematic focus changes every year, further profiling research in the Research Training Group and addressing current debates.
Below you will find information on current events at the Research Training Group - ranging from workshops and lectures to conferences.
Our event archive also documents previous events.
Events of the Research Training Group
Winter semester 2025/26
Summer semester 2025
Research Workshop: Rejecting Closure
date: Thursday, 3 July, 10.30 am – Friday, 4 July 2025, 1pm,
location: PULS, Angoulêmeplatz 2, Hildesheim (5 mins walking distance from Hildesheim main station)
The event will be held entirely in English.
The venue (and toilets) are wheelchair accessible.
This 1.5-day workshop brings together writers, artists, and researchers to explore how aesthetic forms in writing can challenge knowledge hierarchies and resist closure in academic discourse.
With contributions by Ko-Le Chen, Anne Hölck, Omar Kasmani, Wilma Lukatsch, Karolin Meunier, Masoud Morgan, Zuleika Bibi Sheik
Organized by Annika Haas, University of Hildesheim, DFG Research Training Group “Aesthetic Practice”
For registration please write an email until 30 June to: grk2477(at)uni-hildesheim.de
International Conferences
Our annual conference, ‘Power ≠ Strength: Weak Aesthetic Practices’, will take place on 29 and 30 January 2026 at the Domäne Marienburg cultural campus.
Spokesperson
Prof. Dr. Jens Roselt
Coordination
Dr. Sonja Dinter
Postal address
Universität Hildesheim
DFG-Graduiertenkolleg 2477 „Ästhetische Praxis“
Universitätsplatz 1
31141 Hildesheim
Location
Kulturcampus Domäne Marienburg
Domänenstraße, Haus 3
31141 Hildesheim