Technical art history and the History of knowledge

DURARE takes an approach grounded in technical art history, a relatively new branch of art history, which examines how the materials of art and the processes by which art is made contribute to its meaning and help us understand artistic intent. Since artistic pursuits for durability also impacted knowledge practices outside the field of art history, DURARE uses approaches from the history of knowledge that examine craft practices as knowledge practices and/or consider the interactions between craft practices and learned traditions. Both technical art history and the history of knowledge integrate the more established method of historical-critical analysis of sources on art technology (both texts and objects) with historically informed reconstructions, a novel approach that has only recently gained much momentum and which examines history through hands-on experiments with historical materials and techniques.

For its historical reconstructions and material engagement workshops, DURARE makes use of the Utrecht ArtLab | KunstLab. For more information about this space and if you’d like to collaborate, see https://artlab.sites.uu.nl