'Aesthetics from below'. Paving stones and asphalt in modern art

• Applicant: Dr. Kathrin Rottmann
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2015 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 283178400

Since 19th century, artists and theorists worked on overcoming the border between life and art. The street is among the settings of this development, hardly recognized in art history, although it played an important role for modern art. The book examines works of art dealing with urban spaces. It analyses how images were modelled as surfaces with social and political value, using such artistic concerns as the subject of the surface of urban streets, the transfer of road construction techniques into art or the use of paving stones and asphalt. The author studies representations and objects, including art works made of paving and asphalt as well as prints from revolutionary events. And she asks how life and art could be intertwined both on the surfaces of impressionist and constructivist paintings and avant-garde photographs and films.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants