Registration does not begin until 02.10.2026 at 08:00. It ends on 12.10.2026 at 23:59.

The seminar is dedicated to forms and processes of cultural organization.

The seminar is structured into three parts, echoed in the course schedule.

In Part I (Sociological Background, organized into weekly sessions), we draw upon sociological and organization-theoretical writings to relate core questions of organization and organizing to changes in the sphere of art and cultural production.

In Part II (Sites, organized into thematically blocked sessions), we engage with key fields and sites of cultural organizing. These entail, for instance,

a) contemporary art’s 'organizational turn' or 'organizational aesthetics' and its collective experiments in alternative organizing.

b) aesthetic organization and its atmospheric technologies of work and work spaces;

c) the (related) rise of ‘culturepreneurship’ as a kind of entrepreneurial turn in cultural production;

d) (art) museums as paradigmatic cultural institutions and the demands to reorganize how they operate;

e) so-called ‘creative cities’ as sites of cultural organizing.

In Part III (Fieldwork, organized into group-led empirical research and concluding research conference), the students conduct their own empirical investigations of contemporary forms and processes of organizing culture. The participants are asked to identify and form groups around specific cases, sites, initiatives or platforms (not limited to the fields and sites listed above). Feldwork can take the form of, for instance, on-site visits, interviews, participant observation, and other fieldwork techniques. The groups present their findings in a concluding research conference (in the form of a mini-exhibition) in a local art space.

The seminar aims to provide students with theories and concepts to understand organization and organizing as the key social forms and processes of culture and the arts. Empirically, students learn to critically examine the constitution and effects of forms, processes and practices of organizing culture.

On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- understand and reflect upon the societal conditions for, and the shifts in, processes of cultural organization;
- identify and analyse (old and new) forms of organizing culture;
- bring theoretical concepts to bear on real-life examples and practices through observation, analysis and critique.

Further information on teaching evaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/en/teaching/quality-management/evaluation/course-evaluation.html