Art as a Means of Historical Inquiry

Innovative project idea

“Art as a Means of Historical Inquiry” develops didactical tools for historians and artists to explore each other’s fields and inspire new ways of engaging with the past. In two semester-long courses, we collaborate with instructors from ZHdK as an inter-university team, and develop the contents and strategies necessary to teach historical research as a creative and exploratory process. Unlike conventional uses of artworks as sources in historiography, we engage in artistic work as a cognitive process that helps identify tensions, voices and perspectives otherwise hidden by the archive.

Benefits for students and teaching at UZH

Research is a creative process, and learning is a social activity. “Art as a Means of Historical Inquiry” combines these two values by bringing together historians and artists around practical assignments, and by encouraging conceptual, exploratory and multi-media approaches to historical research. Students act as instructors and disciples at the same time, as they introduce their partners to each field’s original ways of observing, asking, and analyzing. Student assistants will also be involved in developing a content platform and evaluating didactical effectiveness for future implementation.