Emmy Noether Group Body Form and Body Norm: Dis/ability in Western European Art and Visual Culture of the Long 19th Century
What characterizes a depicted body as disabled and how would it have to be portrayed to pass as able-bodied? The Emmy Noether Group “Body form and body norm” pursues this fundamental question based on the premise that cultural representations of disability are part of a historically determined discourse. The Noether Group analyzes exemplary case studies through media-specific methods that critically examine representations from an intersectional perspective. By means of this multi-perspective approach the project aims to (1) deconstruct evaluations of dis/ability in visual representations, (2) uncover unmarked normative and ideal concepts of corporeality and their significance in art and art theory, and (3) revise theoretical assumptions regarding norm-deviating corporeality within art historical discourses. The Noether Group thus makes an innovative contribution to art history and the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Dis/ability Studies and defines the still young research field of Dis/ability Art History.
Dr. Nina Eckhoff-Heindl
The Emmy Noether Group “Body Form and Body Norm” examines representations of dis/ability based on the premise that cultural representations of disability are part of a historically determined discourse. The classification of a body as disabled can therefore only be conceived within socio-cultural systems, as the latter determine what is considered as disability and as deviation from the norm. The result of this 'doing disability' is that the inherent construction of disability also regulates those bodies considered as non-disabled or 'normal'. The understanding of disability is thus inextricably intertwined with that of ability. This is especially true for depictions of disability in which bodies require markings to ensure that they are perceived as deviant, and it is precisely in these strategies of depiction that the otherwise invisible body norms appear.
Body norms are historically determined classification systems which are based on assumptions about the shape and functioning of human bodies and are accompanied by social and moral-ethical judgements. Against this backdrop, the Noether Group analyses representations of disability and ability in Western European art and visual culture of the long 19th century, focusing mainly on Germany, France and Great Britain. The studies therefore cover a period of profound transformations characterized by norms of functionality, standardization and economization of bodies which persist to this day in notions of 'normal', ideal or norm-deviating corporeality. This project is the first to explore representations of physical and cognitive disabilities in art and visual culture of all types of media and genre from the beginning of the French Revolution to the early years of the Weimar Republic (1789–1923).
Workshop Wie machtkritisch ist die Kunstwissenschaft? Intersektionale Befragung kunsthistorischer Methoden, mit Anita Hosseini, Fabian Röderer und Frederike Eyhoff, 26-27/09/2025, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien
Konferenz Praktiken der Hervorbringung von Behinderung in Kunst und Literatur, mit Daniela Kuschel, 4-6/06/2025, Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung Köln
Workshop Translating Embodiment, mit Aminata Diouf, Anna Krämer, Sandra Kurfürst und Julia Willms, 6-7/07/2023, Universität zu Köln
Online-Veranstaltungsreihe Ästhetiken der Zugänglichkeit. Barrierefreiheit in Kunst, Kultur und Forschung, SoSe 2023, Universität zu Köln. Videoaufzeichnungen [https://kunst.uni-koeln.de/blog/aesthetiken-der-zugaenglichkeit/]
„Körperform und Körpernorm. Dis/ability als Analysekategorie für die Kunst und visuelle Kultur des langen 19. Jahrhunderts“ | Bonner Kolloquium, 21/05/2026, Universität Bonn
„Dis/ability als Analysekategorie. Körpernorm in Kunst und Ästhetik des langen 19. Jahrhunderts“ | Vorlesung Cultural Disability Studies, 22/04/2026, Institut für Kulturwissenschaften, Universität Düsseldorf
„Intersektionalität am Beispiel von Freakshows und Repräsentationen Julia Pastranas“ | Ringvorlesung Mediengeschichte, 26/11/2024, Institut für Medienkultur und Theater, Universität zu Köln
„Making the invisible visible. Visual representations of madness from 19th century psychiatric contexts” | Tagung Disability History. New perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches, 6–8/11/2024, Universität Münster
„Intersektionale Perspektiven auf Freakshows des 19. Jahrhunderts“ | Ringvorlesung Mediengeschichte, 23/04/2024, Institut für Medienkultur und Theater, Universität zu Köln
„Encountering unmarked assumptions. How Disability Arts and Theory disclose body norms” | Symposium From Access to Acceptance: The Role of Disability in Art, 12–13/04/2023, University of Texas at El Paso, USA
“Inszenierungspraktiken in Freakshows des 19. Jahrhunderts. Julia Pastrana und die Veränderlichkeit von Körpernormen“ | 17. Tagung der Isa Lohmann-Siems Stiftung KörperZeiten. Narrative, Praktiken, Medien, 10–11/02/2023, Universität Hamburg
„Dis/Ability als kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektivierung der Medienanalyse“ | gemeinsam mit Véronique Sina, Gastvortrag bei der Kulturakademie der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Weimar, 09/09/2019
“Exploiting, Degrading, and Repellent. Against a biased Interpretation of Contemporary Art about Disability” | Vortrag bei dem 28th Annual Meeting der Society for Disability Studies, Atlanta/Georgia, USA, 10–13/06/2015
„Vermessung und Normierung des Körpers. Körpernormen der Proportionslehre am Beispiel von Johann Gottfried Schadows „Polyclet“ (1834).“ In: Ordnungssysteme in Architektur und Kunst. Hrsg. von Eva von Engelberg und Stephanie Herold, Siegen: Universitätsverlag 2024, 48–55, Open Access [https://dspace.ub.uni-siegen.de/entities/publication/cef42db8-a3c8-4fce-a75e-9e0d8438b8a4]
„Julia Pastrana, Freakshows und die Zeitlichkeit von Körpernormen.“ In: KörperZeiten. Narrative, Praktiken, Medien. Hrsg. von Manuel Bolz, Fabian Röderer und Constanze Wallenstein. Berlin: Reimer 2024, 59–80
„Dis/ability Art, Art about Dis/ability.” In: Behinderung. Kulturwissenschaftliches Handbuch. Hrsg. von Susanne Hartwig. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler 2020, 318–320. Open Access [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-476-05738-9_57]
„Exploiting, Degrading, and Repellent. Against a biased Interpretation of Contemporary Art about Disability.“ In: Disability and Art History. Hrsg. von Elizabeth Howie und Ann Millett-Gallant. London/New York: Routledge 2017, 29–46.