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Questioning established art history – Judith Bihr on media archaeology
On 7 July 2026, Prof. Dr Judith Bihr’s lecture at the Dieburg Media Campus marked the successful conclusion of the Science Tuesday series for the semester. Under the title ‘Experimental Media Cultural Practice and Media Aesthetic Facilitation’, prof Bihr provided insights into her research on global media art and media archaeological practice. She illustrated how critical narratives and innovative curatorial decisions can breathe new life into museums in our digital society.
Drawing on her academic career, Judith Bihr outlined her central research interests in the field of media archaeology, whose main task is to establish alternative art histories alongside established narratives:
“Media archaeology means questioning the familiar paths of art history – it is about making alternative stories visible.”
Drawing on previous exhibition projects, she demonstrated how a feminist history of media art challenges traditional gender stereotypes, and how historical developments can be used to shape perspectives for the future. Alongside theoretical approaches, Bihr emphasised the importance of practice-oriented outreach – for example, through a mobile artist’s residency in a camper van to actively engage the public – and presented recent work on posthuman eco-feminism in collaboration with an artist from the Philippines.
Prof. Dr Judith Bihr holds the Chair of Experimental Media Cultural Practice and Media Aesthetic Facilitation at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, where she heads the Master’s programme in International Media Cultural Work (IMC). Prior to this, the art historian, who holds a PhD, worked as a curator at the ZKM – Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe and at the Museum Biberach. Her research focuses on global media art, media archaeology, transcultural media aesthetics and audience curation.
Further information about her can be found in Prof. Dr Judith Bihr’s brief profile on the fz dkmi website.
Science Tuesday is a regular lecture series at the Dieburg Media Campus, organised by the Institute for Communication and Media (ikum) and the Research Centre for Digital Communication and Media Innovation (fz dkmi). For many semesters now, the series has provided a platform for professors and researchers at h_da to present their research findings to students and academic colleagues. The series is explicitly aimed at anyone interested, both within and outside Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences.
Contact: Sybille Bertram, Head of ikum