MeReDiaN (Dialogue Network for Media Culture and Law): Developing a transdisciplinary methodology using the examples of digital (audiovisual) ‘pastiche’ and ‘quotation’

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Franziska Heller; Professor Dr. Malte Stieper
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566739872

The research group within the MeReDiaN network (Dialogue Network for Media Culture and Law / Netzwerk für Medienkultur und Recht im Dialog) specialises in collating findings from different areas of research on the social transformations brought about by digitalisation. The grant application will support the methodological reflection and further development of interdisciplinary approaches, especially perspectives of law and media culture studies. Focusing on images as well as moving images in digital culture, and including applications and usage of artificial intelligence, the research group will analyse in depth the central terms and concepts of ‘pastiche’ and ‘quotation’. To help implement this approach, a funding application for a DFG research network will be submitted simultaneously. Although law and media studies examine similar research topics, there has so far been a lack of a systematic foundation for exchange. This is problematic because legal assessments of media phenomena are often based on assumptions that require categorisation from a media culture studies perspective. At the same time, media studies views the law as a set of socio-cultural practices without, however, systematically incorporating this viewpoint into its investigation of these phenomena. Digitalisation increases the need to critically question the law’s assumptions about media and their consequences for media practices and hegemonic structures. Consequently, the research group will centre their analyses around two key areas: 1. Copyright and the response to the legitimation crisis. Digitalisation has fundamentally changed the perception, usage and access to media. Legal norms that were initially developed for and within analogue contexts need to be readjusted. This refers in particular to the distinction between use authorised by public interest and the exclusive rights granted by copyright law. While the protection of authors has traditionally taken centre stage, copyright law today must also take the interests of creators and users into account. Otherwise, a loss of acceptance looms, especially with regard to everyday digital practices. 2. Focus on visual and audio-visual media. Within media studies, there is a need for a more specific understanding of the field’s audio-visual key debates in a praxeological, performative and socio-cultural context, and thus for a more consistent and pragmatic contextualisation of moving images within legally defined spaces of communication and media access. Therefore, both creative forms (such as memes, GIFs, short form videos) and modes of use as well as perceptions of visual realities and cinematic works need reflecting upon, taking into account their everyday, habitualised use, their media experience and legal standardisation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants