080064 VO Christian Art in the Making - The Beginning of Christian Art. Content. Form. Function. Technique (2021W)

How does a small group of followers who gathered around a Jewish rabbi in the 1930s became the "Church"? How did this sect become a world religion? What influence did philosophy have? Or was it the other way round: is philosophy the supporting factor? Is religion merely the dress draped around it? What was the relationship between Christianity and the Roman Empire? And: How did the relationship to nature, science and between the sexes change under the influence of religion? And our main question: What role do images (rejected by the Jewish religion) play in the formation of the new religion, which quickly claimed hegemony? Are they suitable as a means of documentation or were they means in the construction of reality?

We are talking about the first centuries of our era. The use of images only began with a delay. The lecture examines the origin of visual media from pagan religions and the imperial cult, their function-related iconographic adaptation as well as their provenance and use, but also the conscious rejection of formal varieties. At the beginning of the lecture, the whole of the Mediterraneum is in view. With the Great Migration, it focuses on Europe, whose emergence as a political and cultural entity cannot be separated from Christianity and the visual media used for it - painting, sculpture, architecture. Wherever possible, objects held in Viennese collections are included. Technical questions (production of the works) are touched upon. Experts will have their say.

A tutorial accompanies the lecture. Dates will be announced at the beginning of the semester.