The Eye in the Laboratory

Margarete Vöhringer
Program Sponsorship Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 2011–2013

»The Eye in the Laboratory« investigates the transfer of knowledge between the human sciences and humanities in light of investigations to conceptualize vision. It examines the historical relations between theories of vision, analyzing experimental knowledge of the eye and visual practices, as well as theories of perception in both laboratory praxis and art. Notable examples will be drawn from the time period of 1750–1950, serving to elucidate the »long term« perspective (longue durée) as well as the historicity of research in perception and the variability of the human organ. The objective of the project is the critical historicisation of the contemporary conjuncture of neuronal aesthetics.