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

Publication Year Type

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