The Cabinet of Curiosities of the Dukes of Württemberg as Figure of Aesthetic Reflection. Value Attribution and Processes of Canonisation (A07*)

• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 405662736

In a praxeological perspective, this project will explore the cabinet of curiosities of the Dukes of Württemberg and examine how the collection was influenced by changing representational ambitions, institutional settings, and ideas of art. In the late 16th century, it was representative of aristocratic culture, while it later (from the 19th century) became illustrative of bourgeois culture. In particular, the project will inquire into the value assignments and processes of canonization the cabinet reveals. As a working hypothesis, it will assume that around 1817 there was a basic shift towards practices of collection and exposition more strongly inspired by ideas of aesthetic autonomy. The project will be the first to investigate this threshold and the post-1817 development of the cabinet.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1391: Different Aesthetics
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Thomas Thiemeyer