Figuring out Art History - Towards a Systematic Science of Art and Culture
Presenter
March 22, 2016
Abstract
Maximilian Schich
University of Texas at Dallas
This lecture will outline a perspective towards a systematic science of art and culture. As such, the proposed approach integrates qualitative inquiry with computation, natural science, and information design, while sharing the aim of understanding the process of art and cultural history with so-called "traditional practice". It explores unknown complex emerging structure and dynamics by analyzing large data sets, using both quantitative measurement and qualitative inquiry. Similar to systems biology, the procedure is characterized by multidisciplinary co-authorship and publications that make extensive use of scholarly figures. Justifying the need for such an approach, it will be argued that the process of art history is both transcending and exponential, while the discipline of art history, in principle, has no limits in method.