J. (Julia) Alting, MA

PhD project: Canon, Timeline, Trace: Nonlinear Approaches to Art Historical Time

Promotores: Prof. Dr. Ann-Sophie Lehmann (RUG) and Prof. Dr. Hanneke Grootenboer (Radboud)

Keywords: global/decolonial art history - politics of time - nonlinear historical time - canonization

This project assesses a nonlinear approach to art historical time. The question of the authority of linear chronology has recently been taken up again by art historians, yet I argue that more conceptual research is necessary to address what understanding art historical time as nonlinear could mean, and how it could be put in practice. A first objective of the research is to highlight the importance of implicit time conceptualizations. A second objective is to investigate the consequences of a nonlinear conception of historical time for the discipline, asking what possible narratives open up if we do so. The following three concepts are put central to address this question: canon, timeline, and trace. As the tenacity of structures of exclusion embedded in the discipline are brought in sharper focus at the present moment, I argue it is urgent to look at the temporal logics through which we make sense of change.

Read an interview about my research here.