Modern and Contemporary Studies (1800−Present)

Intermediality, Media Practices and Media Literacy

Intermediality, Media Practices and Media Literacy is one of the six research themes of the LUCAS Modern and Contemporary cluster.

Intermediality functions as frame of reference for exploring the manifold manifestations of media and media practices, from painting, sculpture, manuscripts, and the printed book to photography, cinema, performance art, video art, and more recently (post)digital media. Theories of intermediality (and multimedia, mixed media, and intermedia) address interactions between media forms and practices. These consist of combining and converging different media or integrating elements of different media in new (hybrid) forms. Media continually comment upon, produce, reproduce, and replace each other. One can only recognise the representational or processual power of a medium with reference to other media.

Studying media includes investigations of their role in meaning production and their appropriation in (socio-critical) arts and visual and material cultures. Research under this theme also examines whether and how cultural changes are intertwined with shifts in the media landscape. How are thought, perception, and sensibility transformed when media modify and merge through processes of intermediality, and as driving dynamics of modern culture? As a result, (comparative) research into media is of crucial importance for the topical need for visual literacy and media proficiency.