Institute of Art History

Architectural History and Preservation

Research interests

  • History and theory of architecture since the early modern period, with a focus on gender studies and feminist theory
  • History of art and architecture in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) since 1800, especially the Arab Gulf states
  • Architecture, urban planning and urban visual culture in the context of petroleum industrialization (Petroculture Studies, Energy Humanities)
  • Historiography of architecture
  • History, technology and conservation of flat glass and architectural stained glass

Activities

Upcoming Talks

 

Organization of conferences, workshops and lecture series

2024 Radiant Monuments: Nuclear Power Plants Between Cultural Value and Contaminated Sites, international conference, Universität Bern, 23. – 24.01.2025

Konzept, Planung und Durchführung gemeinsam mit der Abteilung Architekturgeschichte & Denkmalpflege sowie dem Verein Baukulturen der Schweiz in Partnerschaft mit ICOMOS Suisse
2022

Panel “New Petroleum Perspectives from the Global South: Visualising and Connecting Oil Cultures of the Middle East and Latin America,” Petrocultures Conference 2022, Stavanger, Norway, 24– 27 August 2022, with Mattin Biglari, Nelida Fuccaro, María Esperanza Rojo Jiménez, Mónica Salas Landa and Sanaz Sohrabi (OCMELA)

Conference “Architecture: Shaped Environment, Medium of Representation, Material Archive,” University of Bern, 12–14 May 2022, with Bernd Nicolai and Sarah M. Schlachetzki
2021 Conference “Glass in Architecture from the Pre- to the Post-Industrial Era: Production, Use and Conservation,” Romont, 5–6 November 2021, cooperation with the Vitrocentre Romont and the Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB), Department Conservation and Restauration
2019 Workshop “Lifeworlds of Environmental Imaginaries and the Concern,” Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, 14–15 October 2019, with Arthur Mason, Institute of Social Anthropology
2017 Workshop “Visuality and Methodology,” Academic Day, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies, July 2017
2015

Conference “XVII. Nachwuchskolloquium für Kunstgeschichte in der Schweiz,” University of Zurich, 6–7 November 2015, with Antonie Bassing-Kontopidis, Charlotte Matter and Filine Wagner

Workshop “Auratische Räume der Moderne. Zum performativen Charakter von Versammlungsstätten,” University of Zurich, 12–13 November 2015, with Beata Labuhn, Louise Malcom, Anna Minta and Frank Schmitz

Lecture Series “MANIFESTATIONEN! Architekturkonzepte zwischen Aura und Repräsentation nach 1945,” University of Zurich, autumn term 2015, with Beata Labuhn, Louise Malcom and Anna Minta
2009

Conference “77. Kunsthistorischer Studierendenkongresses (KSK),” University of Hamburg, 26–29 November 2009, with student representatives of Art History

Publications/Talks

Jump to: Journal Article | Book Section | Book | Conference or Workshop Item | Journal or Series | Software & Other Digital Items | Other

Journal Article

Hindelang, Laura (2024). «Meinen verehrten Freunden zum Andenken von Anna der Elfenauerin»: Frauennetzwerke in der Schweiz und ihr Beitrag zu Produktion und Rezeption der gebauten Umwelt im 19. Jahrhundert. Kunst + Architektur in der Schweiz k+a(1), pp. 60-67. Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte

Hindelang, Laura; Bettina, Gräf (2022). The Transregional Illustrated magazine al-‘Arabi: Knowledge Production and Cultural Imaginations in the 1950s and 1960s. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 15(3), pp. 301-328. Brill

Hindelang, Laura; Gräf, Bettina (2022). No Spaces Without History. Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Gulf Cities between Area Studies, Art History and Media Studies. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 15(3), pp. 219-239. Brill

Hindelang, Laura (2021). Oil Media. Changing Portraits of Petroleum in Visual Culture between the US, Kuwait, and Switzerland. Centaurus, 63(4), pp. 675-694. Wiley 10.1111/1600-0498.12418

Hindelang, Laura (2019). Editorial: Re-Grouping, Re-Using. The Present and Future of Religious Spaces in Europe. bfo-Journal, 5, pp. 3-10. bauforschungonline.ch

Hindelang, Laura (2016). Wüstenblume und Falke für Abu Dhabi: Schweizer Entwürfe einer identitätsstiftenden Architektur der 1970er Jahre. Kritische Berichte - Zeitschrift für Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften, 44(2), pp. 139-152. Jonas-Verlag 10.11588/kb.2016.2.88908

Hindelang, Laura (2015). Bauen in Bagdad um 1958: Wenn Bauvorhaben Revolutionen überstehen. bfo-Journal(1), pp. 48-54. bauforschungonline.ch

Book Section

Wolf, Sophie; Hindelang, Laura (2024). A Brief History of the Production and Use of Glass in Architecture. In: Glass in Architecture Architecture from the Pre- to the Post-Industrial Era: Production, Use and Conervation (pp. 9-37). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 10.1515/9783110793468-001

Hindelang, Laura (2024). Für eine Kunstgeschichte der De/Karbonisierung.Oder: Eine globale Baustelle namens Moderne. In: Kleine-Benne, Birte (ed.) Eine Kunstgeschichte ist keine Kunstgeschichte. Kunstwissenschaftliche Perspektivierungen in Text und Bild (pp. 153-165). Berlin: Logos https://dx.doi.org/10.30819/5798

Hindelang, Laura (2024). Des Futures dans le passé: Des oevres d`art iridescents. In: ARABOFUTURS: Art, science-fiction et nouveaux imaginaires (pp. 93-104). Paris: Manuella Editions

Hindelang, Laura; Radwan, Nadia (2023). Between Affect and Concept. Nostalgia in Modern and Contemporary Art and Architecture from the Middle East and North Africa. In: Gartmann, Thomas; Urchueguía, Cristina; Ambühl-Baur, Hannah (eds.) Studies in the Arts – Künste, Design und Wissenschaft im Austausch. Studies in the arts: Vol. 2 (pp. 121-138). Bielefeld: transcript

Hindelang, Laura (2023). Mobile Images: Stamps as Branding Tools in the Gulf States. In: Wippel, Steffen (ed.) Branding the Middle East. Communication Strategies and Image Building from Qom to Casablanca. Studies on Modern Orient: Vol. 38 (pp. 377-382). Berlin, Boston: DeGruyter https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110741100-022

Hindelang, Laura (2023). Photographing Crude in the Desert: Sight and Sense among Oil Men. In: Fuccaro, Nelida; Limbert, Mandana (eds.) Life Worlds of Middle Eastern Oil. Histories and Ethnographies of Black Gold (pp. 57-86). Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press 10.1515/9781399506168-006

Hindelang, Laura (2022). Kuwait is the Past, Dubai is the Present. A Comparative Historiography of Spectacular Urbanism and Architectural Promotion in the Gulf. In: Ben Azzouna, Nourane; Ritter, Markus; Göloglu, Sabiha (eds.) The History of Material Cultures and Visual Arts in Islamic Lands. Beiträge zur Islamischen Kunst und Archäologie: Vol. 8 (pp. 209-222). Wiesbaden: Reichert

Hindelang, Laura (2022). Das Glasmaleratelier Heinrich Stäubli. Zwischen St. Galler Werkstatt und Glaskunst am Bau im Thurgau. In: Amt für Denkmalpflege, des Kantons Thurgau (ed.) Licht- und Farbenzauber – Glasmalerei im Thurgau. Denkmalpflege im Thurgau: Vol. 23 (pp. 142-149). Basel: Schwabe

Hindelang, Laura; Fuccaro, Nelida; Vali, Murtaza; Rojo Jiménez, Maria Esperanza; Biglari, Mattin (2022). Petromobilites in the Global South. Roundtable Conversation. In: Szefer Larsen, Anne (ed.) Experiences of Oil. Scientific Level: Vol. 1 (pp. 50-71). Stavanger: Museumsforlaget

Hindelang, Laura (2021). Precious Property. Infrastructures of Water and Petroleum in Kuwait. In: Hein, Carola (ed.) Oil Spaces: Exploring the Global Petroleumscape (pp. 159-175). Abingdon: Routledge 10.4324/9780367816049-12

Hindelang, Laura (2018). In the Land of the Sea. The Persian Gulf in Contemporary Art. In: Bassing-Kontopidis, Antoine; Hindelang, Laura; Matter, Charlotte; Wagner, Filine (eds.) Into the Wild: Art and Architecture in a Global Context (pp. 63-72). München: Edition Metzel

Bassing-Kontopidis, Antonie; Hindelang, Laura; Wagner, Filine; Matter, Charlotte; Hindelang, Laura (2018). Art and Architecture in a Global Context. A Conceptual Approach. In: Bassing-Kontopidis, Antonie; Matter, Charlotte; Wagner, Filine (eds.) Into the Wild. Art and Architecture in a Global Context (pp. 6-16). München: edition metzel

Book

Wolf, Sophie; Hindelang, Laura; Giese, Francine; Krauter, Anne (eds.) (2024). Glass in Architecture from the Pre- to the Post-Industrial Era: Production, Use and Conservation. Arts du verre / Glass Art / Glaskunst: Vol. 2. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter 10.1515/9783110793468

Hindelang, Laura (2022). Glaskunst am Bau und Intermedialität. Das Atelier Stäubli in St. Gallen. Glaskunst: Ausstellungen des Vitromusée Romont. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter

Hindelang, Laura (2022). Iridescent Kuwait: Petro-Modernity and Urban Visual Culture since the Mid-Twentieth Century. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter 10.1515/9783110714739

Bassing-Kontopidis, Antonie; Hindelang, Laura; Matter, Charlotte; Wagner, Filine (eds.) (2018). Into the Wild: Art and Architecture in a Global Context. München: Edition Metzel

Conference or Workshop Item

Hindelang, Laura (17 June 2024). Nostalgia and Belonging (Unpublished). In: «Das Sentimentale in Literatur, Kultur und Politik». FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Graduiertenkolleg. 17. Juni 2024.

Hindelang, Laura (30 May 2024). Challenging Cultural Circulations: A Media-Historical Approach to Gulf Cities (Unpublished). In: Cities and circulations: Challenging theoretical frameworks in Gulf histories and geographies. INALCO Institut National des langues et civilisations orientales / Sciences Po / Kuwait University. 30. Mai 2024.

Hindelang, Laura (22 May 2024). Architekturgeschichte im Zeitalter von Digitalisierung und Globalisierung (Unpublished). In: Institutskolloquium: Architekturgeschichte(n). Universität Zürich. 22. Mai 2024.

Hindelang, Laura (6 May 2024). Tracing Women's Architectural Roles in the 1800s: The Case of Marianne of Prussia (Unpublished). In: Monday Lecture Series. Vilnius, Vilnius University / Deutsches Historisches Institut (DHI) Warschau-Vilnius. 6. Mai 2024.

Hindelang, Laura (21 March 2024). Encounters in Archives and through Material Objects: Tracing Female Architectural Agency in the 19th Century in Switzerland and beyond (Unpublished). In: Jeudis de l'histoire de l'art. Lausanne, Université de Lausanne. 21. März 2024.

Hindelang, Laura (25 January 2024). Female Architectural Agency Pre-1900: Conceptualizing Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Unpublished). In: Symposium: WoArch: Women as Builders, Designers, and Critics of the Built Environment Before 1800. Rom, The University of Arkansas Rome Center.

Hindelang, Laura (14 December 2023). Archive Encounters: Finding Women in Architecture Before 1900 (Unpublished). In: Delft Lectures on History and Theory of Architecture. TU Delft. December 14 2023.

Hindelang, Laura (14 September 2023). „Architectural Critique over Coffee and Tea: Reflecting on Female Architectural Agency in the 1800s“, Internationale Konferenz, ETH Zürich, 14. September 2023. In: „Listening In: Conversations on Architectures, Cities and Landscapes 1700-1900“. ETH Zürich. 13.-15. September 2023.

Hindelang, Laura (31 May 2023). “Cultural Appropriation/Appreciation ?” Roundtable discussion with Jens Balzer (Writer and author DIE ZEIT, Berlin), Schoole Mostafawy (Curator Global Art History, Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe), Nika Timashkoa (Artist, Basel) (Unpublished). In: “Cultural Appropriation/Appreciation ?” - Roundtable Diskussion. Kunsthaus Zürich. 31.05.2023.

Hindelang, Laura (27 March 2023). The Art and Architecture of Infrastructure (Unpublished). In: Visual Worlds of Oil Infrastructure in Histories of the Global South. Abu Dhabi, London. 27.03.2023.

Hindelang, Laura (19 January 2023). Petro-Modernität 1850/1950/2023. Kunstgeschichte und die Energy Humanities (Unpublished). In: Vorlesung: Kunstgeschichte/n verlernen, umlernen, neulernen. #Relevante Kunstwissenschaften Teil 2. Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. 19.01.2023.

Hindelang, Laura (20 December 2022). Kuwait in the Age of Petro-Modernity: Visual Culture and Urban Transformation since 1950 (Unpublished). In: Lecture series, Centre Français de Recherche de la Péninsule Arabique. Kuwait City. 20.12.2022.

Hindelang, Laura (16 December 2022). Writing Art and Architectural Histories of the Arabian Peninsula: Transdisciplinary Approaches between Visual Culture and Oral History (Unpublished). In: ARVIMM séminaire “Histoires de l’art au Maghreb et au Moyen-Orient XIXe-XXe siècle” 2022-23. Paris. 16.12.2022.

Hindelang, Laura (25 August 2022). Iridescent Nostalgia: Negotiating Kuwait’s Petro-Modernity in Contemporary Art and Architecture (Unpublished). In: Petrocultures 2022, Stavanger. Stavanger, Norwegen. 24.-27.08.2022.

Hindelang, Laura (24 August 2022). The Visual Power of Oil Culture. And How to Read Images in a Cross-Regional Perspective (Unpublished). In: Petrocultures 2022, Stavanger. Stavanger, Norwegen. 24.-27.08.2022.

Hindelang, Laura (13 May 2022). Fuel! Architectural Trajectories across the Arabian Peninsula (Unpublished). In: Architektur. Gestaltete Lebenswelt, Bedeutungsträger, Zeitspeicher. Bern. 12.-14.05.2022.

Hindelang, Laura (6 April 2021). The Kuwaiti Magazine al-ʿArabi as Cultural Diplomat in the 1950 and 1960s (Unpublished). In: Culture Made in Arabia. The Arabian Peninsula as a new major player on the Arab cultural scene. Abu Dhabi, Vereinigte Arabische Emirate. 5.-8. April 2021.

Hindelang, Laura (13 March 2021). Architekturen des Postwesens in Kuwait. Ein politisierter Schauplatz im 20. Jahrhundert (Unpublished). In: Gezähnte Geschichte II: Philatelie und Postgeschichte als Teil der Geschichtswissenschaften. Erfurt, Deutschland. 13. März 2021.

Hindelang, Laura (23 November 2020). Iridescent Ways of Fueling Futures in Contemporary Art from the Arabian Peninsula (Unpublished). In: Experiences of Oil. Kunstmuseum, Stavanger, Norwegen. 22.-24.11.2020.

Hindelang, Laura (26 October 2020). The Iridescent Effect. Oil Mediations in Visual Culture (Unpublished). In: Norwegen University of Science and Technology, Institute of Social Anthropology, Lecture Series. NTNU, Trondheim, Norwegen. 26.10.2020.

Hindelang, Laura (13 September 2020). Vision Vertikalität. Die Bedeutung von Glas in der Architektur der Moderne und der Gegenwart (Unpublished). In: Europäischen Tage des Denkmals 2020. Vitromusée Romont. 13.09.2020.

Hindelang, Laura (14 October 2019). Lifeworlds of Environmental Imaginaries and the Concern (Unpublished). In: Lifeworlds of Environmental Imaginaries and the Concern. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. 14.10.2019.

Hindelang, Laura (11 July 2019). Kuwait City im Bild. Architektur und Briefmarken als visuelle Medien staatlicher Repräsentation (Unpublished). In: Cross-mediale Repräsentationen der Golfregion. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München. 11.07.2019.

Hindelang, Laura (23 June 2019). The Age of Petroleum Revisited. Zeitgenössische Kunst in der Golfregion (Unpublished). In: Die Arabische Halbinsel – Perspektiven einer Schlüsselregion. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin. 23.06.2019.

Hindelang, Laura (16 March 2019). Vertical Vision. Aerial Photography, Petroleum Prospecting and the City of the Future (Unpublished). In: The Life Worlds of Middle Eastern Oil. New York University, Abu Dhabi. 16.03.2019.

Hindelang, Laura (5 July 2018). Dubai’s Forerunner: The 1950s and 1960s ”Boom Time in Kuwait” Analyzed through the Lens of Visual Culture (Unpublished). In: 14th Colloquium of the Ernst Herzfeld Society for Studies in Islamic Art and Archaeology. University of Strasbourg. 05. - 07.07.2018.

Hindelang, Laura (2 June 2018). Picturing the State. Political Representation, Infrastructure, and Visual Culture in Kuwait (Unpublished). In: Art, Materiality and Representation. British Museum; School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS). 01. - 03.06.2018.

Hindelang, Laura (19 September 2017). Kuwait City Fluctuating. Investigating a City´s Urban History Through Visual Culture (Unpublished). In: 24. Internationaler DAVO-Kongress. Universität Jena. 19.09.2017.

Hindelang, Laura (18 May 2017). Precious Property. Infrastructures of Oil and Water in Kuwait (Unpublished). In: The Global Petroleumscape. Technische Universität Delft. 17. - 19.05.2017.

Hindelang, Laura (11 March 2017). Transnationale Stadtplanung am Persischen Golf. Kuwait City als Beispiel einer städtebaulichen Debatte zwischen Modernisierung und identitärer Relokalisierung nach 1945 (Unpublished). In: 34. Deutschen Kunsthistorikertag. Technische Universität Dresden. 09. - 11.03.2017.

Journal or Series

Hindelang, Laura; Gräf, Bettina (eds.) (2022). Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 15(3). Brill

Hindelang, Laura (ed.) (2019). Re-Grouping, Re-Using. The Present and Future of Religious Spaces in Europe, 5. bauforschungonline.ch

Software & Other Digital Items

Hindelang, Laura (2022). Das Glasmaleratelier Stäubli in St. Gallen. Intermedialität und Glaskunst am Bau im 20. Jahrhundert. [Software & Other Digital Items]

Other

Hindelang, Laura; Radwan, Nadia (2021). Nostalgia and Belonging in Art and Architecture from the MENA Region: Essay Collection. In: Hindelang, Laura; Radwan, Nadia (eds.), Manazir Blog. Manazir

Hindelang, Laura (10 December 2020). Die Saffa 1928 und die Saffa 1958 – Frauen und Architektur in der kunsthistorischen Lehre. In: Blog. Zürich: SNF-Forschungsprojekt Saffa 1958

Hindelang, Laura; Kokoschka, Alina (14 October 2020). Brands, Commodity Aesthetics, and Material Culture in Syria. In: Blog section. Manazir: Swiss Platform for the Study of Visual Arts, Architecture and Heritage in the MENA Region (Online): Université de Genève

CV

Since 05/2023Assistant professor tenure track
Director of the Department of Architectural History and Preservation
Director of the Master program “Monument Preservation and Monument Management” at the University of Bern
03/2019 – 04/2023Scientific assistant (Post-Doc researcher), University of Bern, Institute of Art History
09/2020 – 07/2022Scientific collaborator, Vitrocentre Romont (Swiss research center for stained glass and glass art); project leader of the third-party funded project “Das Glasmaleratelier Stäubli in St. Gallen. Intermedialität und Glaskunst am Bau im 20. Jahrhundert”
10/2016 – 01/2020Doctor of Philosophy in Art History in a Global Context, Freie Universität Berlin Thesis: “Iridescent Kuwait. Investigating the Image World of Petro-Modernity,” advised by Prof. Dr. Wendy Shaw and Prof. Dr. Ulrike Freitag
10/2016 – 02/2019Doctoral fellow, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies; field and archival research in Great Britain and in the Arabian Gulf region (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates)
01/2016 – 03/2016Visiting Researcher, American University of Kuwait, Center for Gulf Studies; and New York University Abu Dhabi Libraries
02/2015 – 07/2015Scientific assistant in monument preservation and building research, office of Michael Hanak, Zurich
10/2014 – 08/2016Scientific assistant (Pre-Doc researcher) in the SNSF funded project “Holy Spaces in Modernity,” University of Zurich, Institute of Art History, Prof. Dr. Anna Minta
09/2012 – 09/2014Master of Arts in Art History (Major) and Sociology (Minor), University of Bern Thesis: “Bagdads urbane Transformation. Die 1950er Jahre zwischen Monarchie und Republik, städtebaulichen Visionen und Nation Building,” supervised by Prof. Dr. Bernd Nicolai
10/2011 – 09/2012Year abroad at the University of Jordan, Language Center & Department of Islamic Studies; and at Birzeit University, Westbank/Palestine, Palestine and Arabic Studies Program
10/2008 – 09/2011Bachelor of Arts in Art History (Major) and Sociology (Minor), University of Hamburg Thesis: “Eine Frage der Form. Informelle Architektur, Selbstbau und Ökologisierung am Beispiel von Quinta Monroy, Chile,” supervised by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kemp and PD Dr. Hendrik Ziegler

Services & Memberships

Since 2024 Editor in Chief Manazir Journal

ICOMOS Suisse member
2024–2027 Member of the Advisory Board, Orient-Institut Beirut, Max Weber Foundation
Since 2023 Member of the executive board of the Institute of Art History

President of the Academic Committee of the Vitrocentre Romont

Committee member of the doctoral program Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies, Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities, Walter Benjamin Kolleg UniBE

Member of the Scientific Committee of Open House Bern
Since 2022 Associated Researcher, Centre Français de Recherche de la Péninsule Arabique, Kuwait
Since 2020 Founding member of the transdisciplinary research group OCMELA (Oil Cultures of the Middle East and Latin America)
2019–2022 Co-chair of the Ernst Herzfeld Award committee, Ernst Herzfeld Society for Studies in Islamic Art and Archaeology
2019–2024 Editorial board member of the Platinum Open Access Manazir Journal
Since 2019 Board member of Manazir—Swiss Platform for the Study of Visual Arts, Architecture and Heritage in the MENA Region
Member AKD Arbeitskreis Denkmalpflege | Working Group on Theory and Education in Heritage Conservation e.V. (AKTLD) | Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Vorderer Orient (DAVO) | Deutscher Verband für Kunstgeschichte e.V. | Berner Heimatschutz, Region Bern Mittelland | Ernst Herzfeld-Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der Islamischen Kunst und Archäologie | Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte GSK | Schweizerische Gesellschaft Mittlerer Osten und Islamische Kulturen SGMOIK | Ulmer Verein - Verband für Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften | Vereinigung der Kunsthistorikerinnen und Kunsthistoriker in der Schweiz VKKS