The Museum Studies Program is proud to support a conference co-sponsored by the Departments of German and History of Art.  The two-day conference, “Vagaries of Objectivity / Launen der Sachlichkeit” will run from Friday, January 27 to Saturday, January 28.  The conference will take place in the Rackham Graduate School.

The German word Sachlichkeit/Objectivity signifies an array of related, yet distinct meanings–from expediency and simplicity, to realism and functionalism. Since the late nineteenth century Sachlichkeit has circulated in many guises, receiving both praise and condemnation, as modern sensibility, political disposition, and critique of modernity. This conference brings together Michigan faculty and students, as well as scholars in History, German Studies, and Art & Architectural History from around the country, to present their research on the various implications and histories of the term Sachlichkeit/Objectivity.

Keynote speakers include Professor Helmut Lethen (Universität Wien) and Professor Daniel Magilow (University of Tennessee, Knoxville).  Other honored guests and University of Michigan faculty and graduate students will also participate.

Please see the full conference schedule attached.

Sachlichkeit Program poster