Aude Bertrand-Höttcke

Research approach

In the Critical Contemporaneity programme area, Aude Bertrand-Höttcke focuses on modern phenomena of art and culture, pursuing a transdisciplinary and transformative research approach.

She completed her doctorate at the then Faculty of Cultural Studies at Witten/Herdecke University under the supervision of Frankfurt philosopher Matthias Kettner.

Before and alongside her PhD thesis on the philosophy of contemporary art, she was involved in a large number of art projects between the Rhine and Ruhr.

Before that, she worked as a consultant for organisations in the profit, non-profit and cultural sectors.

Critical contemporaneity as a field of experimentation

In the course of its advanced 'dissolution of boundaries', contemporary art deals with many phenomena and challenges of our time - these include, for example, togetherness, testing new forms of dialogue and deliberation, experimenting with alternative value chains, dealing with the ecological question or the topic of subsistence. Last but not least, art-based research is also able to deal with the potential effects of digitalisation.

Art thus opens up an interesting space for experimentation - not only to reflect on our present, but also to make potential, liveable and desirable futures more tangible.

In the programme area of critical contemporaneity, the dialogue between art, science and practice unfolds and serves as a basis for the development of a potential new culture that can be experienced and shaped in projects.

Current research projects

• "Post-Fiction - epistemological research as an artistic experiment" (individual research project)

Host institution: Institut ACTE (Arts Créations Théories Estétique) Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.

Institut ACTE | Labo - Institut ACTE

Project partner: Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin

| RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES PARIS/BERLIN | nouveau cinéma et art contemporain |

• "(T)RaumFabrik - living and working in the future" (working group)

The "(T)Raumfabrik" exchange space at the WittenLab is an association of researchers and practitioners from the fields of organisational and neighbourhood development, urban studies, cultural production, philosophy (especially philosophy of work) and cultural sociology.

The primary field of investigation is self-organised urban spaces that are primarily developed, initiated and permanently operated by artists. These spaces are characterised by the fact that they function as living and working spaces and are also open to the public. The special nature of contemporary artistic work enables an in-depth insight into the philosophy of the work.

A first meeting focusing on the Aix/Marseille region took place in autumn 2024.
The host institution was the cultural-sociological observatory Observatoire des publics et pratiques de la culture at the MESHOPOLIS research institute (Aix-Marseille Université / Sciences Po Aix / CNRS).

A further meeting is planned for Manifesta 16 Ruhr in the Ruhr region.

The participants and partners include:

-Publics - Observatoire des Publics et pratiques de la culture (Prof. Dr Sylvia Girel - Director, Dr Matthieu Demory, Dr Elisa Ullauri Llore and Dr Maria Elena Buslacchi)

-Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Culture and Public Space, TU Vienna(Richard Pfeifer)

-PD. Habil. Dr Michael Hirsch (academic with postdoctoral lecturing qualification at the University of Siegen, author, participant in the Viennese collective Stoffwechsel - Ecologies of Cooperation)

-Kay von Keitz (freelance author and curator, Cologne)

-Gigi Agryropoulou (freelance author and lecturer, London)

-Markus Ambach Projects

-Network and collective NANK-'Neue Arbeit Neue Kultur' (Günter Thoma, Thomas Schneider)

• Academy Third Space (action research).

The Akademie Third Space experiment is a social lab that was launched in autumn 2023.

It is based on an initiative by film director and cultural worker Ayse Kalmaz.

Initiators: inside: Ayse Kalmaz, Michael Eickhoff

Scientific team: Prof. Dr Kazuma Matoba, PD. Dr Jens Lanfer, Dr Aude Bertrand-Höttcke.

The project focuses on the transformative potential of "Third Space" in the sense of the post-colonial thinker Homi K. Bhabha (Bhabha 2009) - as an idealised space in which different cultures freely meet. The project is motivated by the political urgency of enabling dialogue between members of different cultural spheres, which is particularly explosive in today's post-migrant urban societies.

One working hypothesis is that artists and cultural practitioners have a special role to play here. The project therefore invites dialogue between cultural and humanities scholars, artists, but also representatives of cultural institutions and civil society initiatives.

The aim is to test and establish a third space as a place of negotiation for a new understanding of culture and innovative art productions, and to ensure the non-reproduction of established power structures and dominant cultures.

Curriculum vitae

January - March 2025
Visiting researcher at the Institut ACTE Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Host: Prof. Dr Aline Caillet.

Since September 2024
affiliated researcher at the cultural sociological observatory Publics -- L'Observatoire des publics et pratiques de la culture, based at the research institute MESHOPOLIS (Université Aix/Marseille, CNRS, Scienes Po Aix). Co-initiator of a working group (together with Dr Maria Elena Buslacchi, Dr Matthieu Demory, Dr Elisa Ullori Llaure. Supervision: Prof. Dr. Sylvia Girel) on cultural third places and neighbourhoods/neighbouring in post-migrant European cities.

Launch event: 07/08 October 2024 Journée d'étude sur les Tiers Lieux. Host institution: Centre MESHOPOLIS Université Aix/Marseille.

Since April 2023
Academic staff member at the WittenLab of the Witten/Herdecke University

2022
Doctoral studies at the former Faculty of Cultural Reflection at Witten/Herdecke University.

Title of the PhD thesis: "Gesellschaft leisten. Current intervention art and its added value narratives".

Supervisor: Prof. Dr Matthias Kettner.

Reviewers: Prof. Dr Jörg Heiser, Director, Institute for Art in Context, Berlin University of the Arts. Prof. Dr Renate Buschmann, Director, WittenLab, Witten/Herdecke University.

2019 - 2021
Parental leave

2009 - 2023
Cultural projects for Weltkunstzimmer / HPZ Stiftung Düsseldorf, Maschinenhaus Essen / Carl Stipendium e.V., Urbane Künste Ruhr / Kultur Ruhr GmbH, medienwerk.nrw c/o HMKV Dortmund, among others.

2006 - 2007
Trainee period at the festival for moving image and experimental film Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin

2003 - 2008
Management and organisational consultant in the profit, non-profit and cultural sectors

1999 - 2003
ESCP (Paris/London/Berlin). Studied international economics.

Diploma thesis on visual communication and brand strategy in interaction with digital media

1997 - 1999
Classe préparatoire aux Grandes Ecoles (Paris). General studies.