Laura Hindelang
University of Bern
Institute of Art History
Research Associate at the Institute of Art History, University of Bern
At the University of Bern, Department of Art History, I teach courses in the field of art and architectural history, mostly with a focus on Europe, North America and the MENA region. Recent seminars have dealt with the question of the making of religious spaces; fossil energy and material history; as well as women and architecture.
I write about visual cultures of modern architecture and urban planning, about petro-modernity and oil culture, about Kuwait’s modern period, and contemporary art from the Persian Gulf region.
I’m a member of the editorial board of the Open Access bfo-journal, which focuses on architectural history, monument preservation and urban planning, and a member of the advisory board of the Open Access Manazir Journal, which is dedicated to visual arts, architecture and cultural heritage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Institute of Art History, University of Bern (since 2019)
Research Associate
My book in progress is about the image world of petro-modernity and explores Kuwait's urban transformation and evolving urban visual culture in the mid-20th century in relation to questions surrounding the (in)visibility of petroleum. It considers an unusually broad range of visual material from architectural drawings to national emblems and develops a transdisciplinary approach around the analytical concept of “iridescence” to think through the dazzling ambiguity of petroleum and petro-modernity from a contemporary perspective.
Dissertation Project (2016 – 2020)
Iridescent Kuwait. Investigating the Image World of Petro-Modernity
- First supervisor: Prof. Dr. Wendy Shaw
- Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Freitag
Selected Publications:
2018. Antonie Bassing, Laura Hindelang, Charlotte Matter and Filine Wagner (eds): Into the Wild. Art and Architecture in a Global Context, Munich: Edition Metzel.
-- with Antonie Bassing, Charlotte Matter and Filine Wagner, "Art and Architecture in a global context. A conceptual approach"
-- "Im Land des Meeres. Der Persische Golf im Spiegel zeitgenössischer Kunst", p. 63-72.
2016. “Wüstenblume und Falke für Abu Dhabi. Schweizer Entwürfe einer identitätsstiftenden Architektur der 1970er Jahre“, kritische berichte, 44 (2), 142-155.
2015. “Bauen in Bagdad um 1958: Wenn Bauvorhaben Revolutionen überstehen“, bfo-journal 1 (1), 48-54. http://bauforschungonline.ch/bfo-journal-12015.html
For a comprehensive list of publications and papers, please visit: https://bern.academia.edu/LauraHindelang