Arts & Media Archaeology summer school 2026 “Living Histories”

The Arts & Media Archaeology team are eager to present the third edition of their summer school:

Arts & Media Archaeology: Living Histories   

6-10 July 2026 

University of Antwerp City Campus 

Deadline: 12 March for early bird and non-EU citizens, 11 May for regular registration 

The 2026 edition of the Arts and Media Archaeology Summer School will focus on the interplay between media developments and performative culture, spanning from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Through lectures, artist talks, re-enactments and interactive hands-on experimentation, the summer school programme aims to foster students’ ability to think through media by questioning their materiality, sensory properties, and its role as a historical source. Across five days, we will explore how hands-on engagement with media devices - from magic lanterns and anatomical models to panoramas and virtual reality environments - can activate new forms of historical understanding. This approach resonates with a broader turn in the humanities toward material and sensory epistemologies - ways of knowing that emerge from doing.

 

This Summer School is aimed at research MA and PhD students and more advanced scholars in the field of Arts, Performance, Media and Cultural History from the University of Antwerp and other universities in Belgium and abroad. Successful completion can be awarded with 6 credits in accordance with the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). 

Course content: 

• Lectures and interactive sessions by Deirdre Feeney, Erkki Huhtamo, Melissa Ferrari, Melissa Van Drie, Monica van der Haagen-Wulff, Rod Bantjes, and more confirmed speakers to follow.
• Group projects and exchange sessions where participants share their own skills and research
• Field trips to the Ghent University Museum (GUM) and the Photo Museum Antwerp (FOMU) 
• An evening lantern lecture performance 
• Opportunities for networking through communal lunches, a reception, and a social dinner for participants, organizers, and speakers.

You can find more information and the registration link on the summer school website. Stay up to date on this summer school and future events through our newsletter, Facebook, and blog. 

This Summer School is organized in the framework of “Science at the Fair: Performing Knowledge and Technology in Western Europe, 1850-1914” (www.scifair.eu), a five-year research project coordinated by Nele Wynants, funded by the European Research Council (ERC).