DP2 Art-related Sciences

Department 2 provides education in the history and theory of the arts. Research and teaching cover a broad field of art-related sciences. Currently, the subjects of art history/art science, philosophy, pedagogy, didactics of fine arts, sociology, poetics and artistic aesthetics, art and public, as well as architecture theory and history are represented in Department 2. All teachers of the department have in common that they understand and further develop their subject from the direct contact with contemporary art and their teaching. The scientific department has the right to confer doctorates (Dr. phil.).

The teaching offers of the department are primarily aimed at the students of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. However, students of the scientific subjects from other universities can also participate as auditors in the department's teaching events. Through the research cooperation of the members of the department, the subjects represented at the department are nationally and internationally networked.

From the very beginning, the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf integrated art sciences into its training concepts - initially through "art scholars and art historians" - professorially into the academy life (see list of former professors under Academy/History). Early on, "professors for the artistic teaching profession" were also represented. In 1962, the art historian Dr. Anna Klapheck was the first scientist to be appointed to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. As part of the redesign of art studies, especially since the 1970s, the spectrum of art-related sciences represented at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf expanded.