Goldsmiths - University of London

Astrid Schmetterling

Teaching

I currently teach a BA Special Subject ‘Sites of Memory’ and the Core Course ‘Histories of Art’ of the Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Art History of which I am the programme leader. I also contribute to the Core Course of the MA Contemporary Art Theory.

Areas of supervision

I supervise projects on any aspect of memory – cultural memory, narrative memory, traumatic memory – in relation to modern and contemporary representational practices. I also welcome proposals that pertain to issues of cultural difference, post colonialism and the global circulation of culture.

Research interests

My research focuses on the relation between history, culture and memory, between the act of bearing witness and the act of making art. In this context, I am interested in contemporary international arts practices (see my articles on Arnold Dreyblatt, Vivienne Koorland, and on Alain Brigand’s 11’09”01 – September 11 film project), as well as in early 20th century German culture (having published a book on Charlotte Salomon, I am currently involved in a collaborative research project on Else Lasker-Schüler). My writing is informed by the insights of diaspora, postcolonial and transcultural studies.

Selected publications

Books:

Charlotte Salomon 1917-1943. Bilder eines Lebens, Frankfurt am Main: Jüdischer Verlag im Suhrkamp Verlag, 2001.

Selected articles:

‘Vivienne Koorland: Reisemalheurs (Travel Woes)’, Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, Vol. 6, Issue 1, Spring 2008, pp. 88-97.

‘Archival Obsessions: Arnold Dreyblatt’s Memory Work’, Art Journal, Vol. 66, No 4, Winter 2007, pp 70-83.

‘Encounters at the Site of Trauma. 11’09”01 – September 11: A Film by 11 Directors’, Third Text, Vol. 20, Issue 5, September 2006, pp. 561-570.

‘Inscriptions of Difference in Charlotte Salomon’s Work’, in Monica Bohm-Duchen and Michael Steinberg (eds.), Reading Charlotte Salomon, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006, pp. 140-147.

‘Charlotte Salomons “Leben? Oder Theater?“ Ein Werk jenseits der Assimilation’, in Christiane E. Müller and Andrea Schatz (eds.), Der Differenz auf der Spur. Frauen und Gender in Aschkenas, Berlin: Metropol Verlag, 2004, pp. 286-303.

‘Irene Below: Hidden Treasures. Irma Stern. Her Books, Painted Book Covers and Bookplates’, in Frauen Kunst Wissenschaft, No 34, 2002, pp 88-92.

‘Nachwort’, in Helga Weissová, Zeichne, was Du siehst. Zeichnungen eines Kindes aus Theresienstadt, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 2001, pp 94-111.

'Tracing the Life (or Theatre?) of Charlotte Salomon’, Issues in Architecture Art & Design, Vol. 5 No 1, University of East London, London, 1997, pp 115-128.

I have also written entries for The Dictionary of Art (1996), catalogue essays, and numerous exhibition reviews for journals such as Art Monthly, Performance, Women’s Art Magazine and others.

Grants & awards

AHRC Research Leave Scheme 2009-2010

Professional activities

Member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics)