Research Institute for
Sustainability | at GFZ

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Dr. Ingeborg Reichle

Senior Fellow

Ingeborg Reichle is a contemporary art historian and cultural theorist working at the intersection of art, science, and sustainability. In recent years she served as Professor in the Department of Media Theory at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, there she also served as founding chair of the Department of Cross-disciplinary Strategies (CDS). Her area of research and teaching is the encounter of the arts with cutting-edge technologies such as biotechnology and synthetic biology, taking also into account artistic responses to systemic risks and global challenges such as climate change. Before joining the faculty of the Department of Media Theory as full professor in 2016, she was FONTE professor at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. In 2004 she gained her PhD from the Humboldt University Berlin with a dissertation about art in the age of technoscience (Vienna, 2005). She is advising a number of art institutions like the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany.

  • 2016-2021 University of Applied Arts Vienna, Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Media Theory; University of Applied Arts Vienna, Founding Chair of the Department of Cross-Disciplinary Strategies (CDS)

  • 2014-2015 Humboldt University Berlin, FONTE Guest Professor, Institute of Cultural History and Theory

  • 2013-2014 Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Visiting Scholar, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas

  • 2005-2011 Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), Research assistant / head of the interdisciplinary research groups Welt als Bild (2005-2008) and Bildkulturen (2008-2011) and Co-founder and Co-Director of the programme Junges Forum für Bildwissenschaft

  • 2007 University of Lisbon Portugal, Visiting Professor, Centro da Filosofia das Ciências Faculdade de Ciências

  • 2006 School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York City USA, Visiting Lecturer, Nature and Technology Lab, Fine Arts Department

  • 2004-2005 Humboldt University Berlin, Lecturer and Research assistant, Hermann von Helmholtz Centre for Cultural Techniques

  • 1998-2003, Humboldt University Berlin, PhD candidate, Department of Art History

  • Ecocritical art history
  • Art and the Anthropocene
  • Public participation through art and activism

Publications at the RIFS

2023

Monographs, book chapters, special issues

2022

Monographs, book chapters, special issues

Publications prior to joining the RIFS

  • Art in the Age of Technoscience: Genetic Engineering, Robotics, and Artificial Life in Contemporary Art. With a preface by Robert Zwijnenberg (Springer, New York, 2009)

  • Kunst aus dem Labor: Zum Verhältnis von Kunst und Wissenschaft im Zeitalter der Technoscience (Springer, Vienna, New York, 2005).

  • Plastic Ocean: Art and Science Responses to Marine Pollution. Ed. Ingeborg Reichle (De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston, 2021).

  • IMAGE MATCH: Visueller Transfer, "Imagescapes" und Intervisualität in globalen Bildkulturen. Eds. Ingeborg Reichle, Martina Baleva, and Oliver Lerone Schultz (Fink, Munich, 2012).

  • Atlas der Weltbilder: Eds. Ingeborg Reichle, Christoph Markschies, Jochen Brüning, and Peter Deuflhard (Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 2011).

  • Reiner Maria Matysik: jenseits des menschen / beyond humans. Eds. Ingeborg Reichle and Thomas Schnalke (The Green Box, Berlin, 2010).

  • Maßlose Bilder: Visuelle Ästhetik der Transgression. Eds. Ingeborg Reichle and Steffen Siegel (Fink, Munich, 2009). Visuelle Modelle. Eds. Ingeborg Reichle, Steffen Siegel, and Achim Spelten (Fink, Munich, 2008).

  • Verwandte Bilder: Die Fragen der Bildwissenschaft. Eds. Ingeborg Reichle, Steffen Siegel, and Achim Spelten (Fink, Munich, 2007).

  • Medien der Kunst: Geschlecht, Metapher, Code. Eds. Ingeborg Reichle and Susanne von Falkenhausen (Jonas, Marburg, 2004).

  • "Ecocritical Art History", Keynote Speaker, Aktuelle Kunstgeschichte/n an der Fakultät für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany, November 8, 2021

  • "Toxic Plastic Politics: Rethinking Plastic Pollution through Art and Activism", Keynote Speaker at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 25, 2021

  • "Endangered Species: The Loss of Biodiversity and the Cultural Landscape", lecture at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Leipzig, Germany, September 24, 2021

  • "Speculative Futures in Current New Media Art Practices", Keynote Speaker at the conference Speaking Digital: On Digital Culture and Methodologies, doctoral degree study programme Digital Culture and Creative Industries at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, June 28, 2021

  • "Art in the Age of Environmental Crisis: Framing Fermenting Futures within Ecocritical Art History", talk on the panel Fermenting Futures: Exploring Yeast Biotechnology Through an Artistic Lens organised by Anna Dumitriu and Diethard Mattanovich, international conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology (ICYGMB) hosted by the University of Natural Resouces and Life Scicences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria, August 24, 2021

  • "Welcome and Introduction", 4th International Conference: Taboo - Transgression - Transcendence in Art and Science (TTT2020 Vienna online), University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, November 26, 2020

  • "The Production of Food: Reflections on Ancient Traditions and Agribusiness from a Bioart Perspective", talk (with María Antonia González Valerio, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico), at re:publica Campus, Berlin, Germany, September 23, 2020

  • "The Future of Food Culture: Turning From Agribusiness to Bioart & Biodesign", talk (with Suzanne Anker", SVA, New York City, USA) at re:publica Campus, Berlin, Germany, September 21, 2020

  • "Plastic Pollution and the Arts", Art & Science Collaborations at Meet the S+T+ARTS Community at Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, September 10, 2020

  • "Synthetische Biologie in Kunst und Wissenschaft", talk at the conference and exhibition Survival of the Fittest. Zum Verhältnis von Natur und Hightech in der zeitgenössischen Kunst im Kunstpalais & Städtische Sammlung Erlangen, Germany, March 14, 2020

  • "Natürlich künstlich: Zur Technisierung des Lebendigen in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts", presentation at Figurationen des Übergangs - Übergänge zwischen Kunst und Leben, 1920 - 1970 interuniversitären Schwerpunkt Wissenschaft & Kunst University Mozarteum/Paris-Lodron-University Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, April 22, 2020

  • "Endangered Species: On the Loss of Biodiversity in Contemporary Art", Keynote Speaker at the international conference on Biodiversity and the Cultural Landscape, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, January 15, 2020

  • "Bioart: Zum Verhältnis von Kunst und Naturbegriff im Zeitalter der Technoscience", Evening lecture and exhibition Hans Haacke - Kunst, Natur, Politik: Jetzt at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte Munich, Germany, January 8, 2020

  • "Global Challenges in 21st Century Higher Education", Keynote Speaker at the international conference RELOGIA: Art+Science+Technology, Sofia, Bulgaria, November 22, 2019

  • "Teaching for the Future: Grand Challenges in 21st Century Higher Education", Keynote Speaker at the EAST International Conference Education, Art, Science and Technology (east.work) at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, China, November 14, 2019

  • "AI, Art and Nature", Veranstaltung des Jahresthemas 2019-20 'Naturgemälde' und der IAG Verantwortung - Maschinelles Lernen und Künstliche Intelligenz, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin, Germany, November 4, 2019

  • "Art in the Age of Technoscience: Speculating about the Limits of Life", Keynote Speaker at the International Symposium MATTER(s) in MOTION: Art, Self-Organized Matter, Material agency and Proto-Aliens, Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan, June 7, 2019

  • "New (Bio)Media Art: Speculating about 21st Century Art", Evening talk at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Bioscience, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, June 5, 2019

  • "Living Matter on Display: Human Tissue in Current BioArt Practices", talk at the international conference of the Getty Conservation Institute Living Matter/ La Materia Viva: The Preservation of Biological Materials Used in Contemporary Art / Conservación de materiales orgánicos en el arte contemporáneo, am Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico, June 3, 2019

  • "Art for the Future - Artistic responses to global challenges", talk at the Nature and Technology Lab (Bio Art Lab), Fine Arts Department, School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York City, USA, April 16, 2019

  • "New Media Ecologies: Rethinking the human microbiome in art and design", Evening lecture at the Department of Visual Arts, University of California, San Diego, USA, April 9, 2019

  • "Art for the Future - Artistic responses on global challenges", Keynote Speaker at the international symposium Understanding ARTS based RESEARCH, NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), University of California, Los Angeles, USA, April 4, 2019

  • "New (Bio)Media Art: Speculating about the current art and science liaison", Keynote Speaker at the Biennial City and Science (Ciència i Ciutat), Barcelona, Spain, February 8, 2019

  • "New(Bio)Media Art: Speculating about the 21st Century Art Museum", Keynote Speaker at conference Art in Motion. 100 Masterpieces with and through Media, Open University Symposium, ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, January 11, 2019