Art in the display window – Production and presentation of artists from Baden-Württemberg

The understanding of regional art production is closely tied to the basic understanding of artistic developments. Although new insights into the particular also continue the history of the whole, the predominance of major lines of development usually leads to a marginalisation of the specific. This is especially true of modern art, which, due to new possibilities for the exchange and dissemination of images, has oriented itself to a greater extent than before towards major national and international art centres. Our image of modern and contemporary art in Baden-Württemberg is therefore determined on the one hand by the international canon applied to well-known artists, and on the other hand by a specific profile of regional groups and art centres. By linking both perspectives, the project aims to obtain and convey a more differentiated image of south-west German modernism.

In the course of the research project, an online platform for selected work complexes of modern and contemporary by artists from Baden-Württemberg will be created. It will be presented in the form of a digital shop window and will be visible to the public at large. This is made possible through interdisciplinary cooperation with the Information and Communication Centre of the University of Stuttgart and in particular the University Library. The institutions contribute significantly to transferring the large amounts of data into the digital format and securing them permanently.

The use of standardised digital formats will also enable the exchange with other databases and thus the linking of further information on the artists. The pilot project is also intended to make a contribution to the increasingly urgent task of digitally recording and presenting collections as a model for future digital catalogues raisonnés.

With the successive development of this platform for art, artists and their associated actors in the area of today's Baden-Württemberg since the beginning of modernity, the project conducts profound basic research on modern and contemporary art in the region and contributes to a deeper knowledge of the cultural region in a supra-regional and international context. The digital showcase will also be integrated into teaching at the Institute for Art History at the University of Stuttgart for practice purposes. In this way, the project provides a transfer of knowledge in research, university education and to the general public as well.