The 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.

Presentation

The 2026 edition of the Arts and Media Archaeology Summer School will take place from 6-10 July 2026 and 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.

Course contents

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. Historians of science and media have increasingly acknowledged that manuals and archives only tell part of the story. The physical handling of devices, the gestures involved in their operation, and the environments in which they were experienced all contribute to a fuller picture of how media technologies functioned and keep functioning socially, politically, and culturally. The week combines: 

• Talks and panels by international researchers
• Interactive workshops with artists and technicians
• Field trips to the Ghent University Museum (GUM) and the Photo Museum Antwerp (FOMU)
• An evening lantern lecture performance
• Group projects and exchange sessions where participants share their own skills and research

Our Summer School will offer participants:

• An interdisciplinary framework for analysing historical media and their performative and artistic uses.
• Insights into the constructivist nature of media technology products as historical sources.
• Awareness of the ‘tacit knowledge’ embedded in the use of media technologies.
• A sensory perspective on the cultural and social inscriptions within media technologies.

The 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.

This summer school is organized by Science at the Fair (SciFair), which is a five-year research project (2021-2026) funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 948678 - SciFair). The organizing committee members are Nele Wynants, Bart G. Moens, and Elisa Seghers.

Application deadlines

Your application for the Arts and Media Archaeology Summer School can be submitted until 11 May 2026 or until the maximum capacity of 40 participants is reached. We have an earlier deadline for early birds and non-EU citizens, who should submit before 12 March 2026 (as to leave enough time for visa applications).

Applications are submitted and processed through the enrolment platform Mobility Online. The application includes a brief CV and cover letter (250 words, detailing the applicant’s background, motivation and interest in the course). Additionally, approved applicants working towards ECTS credits are expected to send in an abstract (250 words) about a research topic related to the summer school. This is not mandatory, but encouraged, for approved applicants not working towards ECTS credits. Applications are evaluated by the academic committee and the programme coordinators. All applicants will be notified about the results of selection within 1 week after the early bird deadline of 12 March and 1 week after the application deadline of 11 May 2026.

The summer school will take place from 6-10 July 2026 at the University of Antwerp city campus, walking distance from the Antwerpen-Centraal train station.

Application form : https://mobilityonline.uantwerpen.be/mobility/BewerbungServlet?identifier=ANTWERP01&kz_bew_pers=S&kz_bew_art=IN&aust_prog=ASU&sprache=en&studj_id=5710

Tuition fee

Early bird tuition fee (registrations completed by 12 March 2026) :

• Master students, PhD and postdoctoral researchers: €400
• UAntwerp student early bird fee: €250 (early bird student fee €400 – €150 reduction applied)
• Other: €450

Regular tuition fee (registrations completed by 11 May 2026) :

• Master students, PhD and postdoctoral researchers: €500
• UAntwerp students: €350 (student fee €500 – €150 reduction applied)
• Other: €550

This tuition fee includes course materials, coffee breaks, lunches, social activities organised by the summer school, a round-trip train ticket to Ghent, a reception, and one social dinner. It does not include travel and accommodation.

For additional information and the registration link, visit the Arts & Media Archaeology summer school website.