Institut für Kunstgeschichte

Team

Dr. Chonja Lee

Postdoctoral researcher

Abteilung für Kunstgeschichte der Neuzeit

Telefon
+41 31 684 33 40
E-Mail
chonja.lee@unibe.ch
Büro
008
Postadresse
Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Mittelstrasse 43
3012 Bern

Research Topics

  • Exoticism in Europe, 17th and 18th centuries
  • Swiss and French chintz in the 18th century
  • European art, 19th and early 20th centuries
  • Early film and dance around 1900
  • History of science, botany and animism
  • Interactions between art and psychology, art theory, cultural history and popular culture
  • Art in the public space

Activities

Postdoc Project

Political Patterns. European printed Cotton Textiles for West Africa in the 18th and early 19th Century and a New History of Style

See more on: http://theexotic.ch

Teaching Experience

University of Bern

  • Curating and Journalistic Writing – Excursion to the Exhibition Exotic? (2020/2021)
  • Co-organization of an excursion to Amsterdam (2019)
  • The Other as Consumer – Designs for Export Textiles, session in the lecture “Creating Otherness. Images, Objects, Texts (16.–18. Century, Europe)” (2018)
  • Art and Diplomacy – Textiles: Trade, History and Art History, session in the BA seminar “Art and Diplomacy. From the Renaissance to the (French) Revolution” (2017)

University of Geneva

  • Art et animation autour de 1900 (MA seminar, 2016)
  • L’idéal végétal dans l’art, 1900-2015 (BA seminar, 2015)
  • L’art dans l’espace public (BA seminar and excursion, 2009)
  • L’art contemporain japonais (BA seminar, 2009)
  • Actualité de la recherche (MA seminar cycle with Dario Gamboni, 2008/2009)

University of Zurich

  • Die Pflanze als künstlerisches Ideal (BA colloquium, 2014)
  • Künstlerische Techniken (BA seminar with Maya Burtscher, 2007)
  • Aktuelle Ausstellungen – Kunstkritik (Tutor, 2005)

Exhibitions

Palais de Rumine, Lausanne

Conferences (Selection)

Palais de Rumine, Lausanne L’esclavage et la Suisse, d’hier à aujourd’hui, organization of roundtable, in: Exotic? Switzerland Looking Outward in the Age of Enlightenment, January 22, 2021
Le Foyer in Process Le Foyer goes Exotic?, discussion, September 19, 2020
Int. Lyceum Club, Zurich Die Pflanzenseele in der Kunst, Conference, March 9, 2020
University of Graz Revolutionary Flowers. Sex and Politics in early modern Dance, in: Questioning the Non-Human Other: Political Potentials of Living Beings in Contemporary Art, October 17–19, 2019
Salon Suisse, Biennale di Venezia The Secret Life of Plants, in: Salon Suisse at 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, September 21, 2019
University of Mendrisio Exotic Switzerland? Circulating art, history of collecting and global material culture (1600–1800), panel session with Noémie Etienne, in: Fourth Swiss Congress of Art History, June 6–8, 2019
University of Bern Looking, touching, unfolding. Understanding material culture through qualitative analysis, with Noémie Etienne and Claire Brizon, in: Doing Consumer History. Empirical sources and methodological challenges, Conference, May 3, 2019
ETH, Zurich “Faire une Colonie suisse pour peupler quelque Terre inhabitée”. Material Reminiscences of Global Entanglement during the Early Modern Period, with Noémie Etienne and Claire Brizon, in: New Approaches to Swiss Colonial & Global History, Workshop, November 16, 2018
Dressing the Early Modern Network and Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg Dressing West Africa in the 18th Century. European printed Cotton Textiles designed for a faraway Consumer, in: Dressing the Early Modern Network Conference, September 27–28, 2018
Bard Graduate Center, New York With Noémie Etienne and Claire Brizon, Exoticizing in the Enlightenment. A Global History of Switzerland in Objects, in: Bard Graduate Center, Brown Bag Lunch presentation, 2018
University of Hamburg Ausdruck ohne Bewusstsein? Vegetabiler Animismus und Kunst um 1900, in: Ökologien des Ausdrucks, Warburg Haus Hamburg, Conference, 2018
La Colonie, Paris Made in Switzerland: How Swiss Indiennes Became Autochtone and Dressed the World at the Same Time, in: Circulating Crafts: Art, Agency, and the Making of Identities (1600-2000), La Colonie, Workshop, 2018
University of Geneva, Société des Arts de Genève and Centre Alexandre-Koyré (EHESS Paris) A Taste for the Exotic. Artistic innovation in the Swiss Indiennes Manufactories, in: Produire du nouveau ? Arts – Techniques – Sciences en Europe (1400-1900), Conference, Palais de l’Athénée Geneva, 2017
University of Bern Nelke und Granatapfel. Schweizer Indiennes zwischen Phantasie und Botanik, in: Colloquium Early Modern Periode Art History Department, 2017
Central European University, Budapest Ballets botaniques: How early film makes the plant soul visible in France, in: Vegetal Mediations: Plant Agency in Contemporary Art and Environmental Humanities, Conference, 2017
University of Bern Lacquer and Indiennes: Technical Transfer and Material Reception in 18th Century Europe, in: Schloss Beuggen, Research Colloquium History Department, 2017
University of Hamburg „Innere und einzige Essenz des filmischen Ausdrucks“ – Vegetabile Gebärden in Film und Tanz (1904–1927), in: Forschungsstelle Images of Nature, Lecture Serie on „Ausdruck“, 2017
Swiss Institute for Art Research,  Zurich (SIK-ISEA) Roundtable: Mobilität in der akademischen Qualifikation, in: Migration/Mobilität als Movens im Feld der Kunst(wissenschaft), 2017
Eikones NFS Bildkritik Basel Virtuelle Volumina. Materialität und Medialität des Serpentintanzes und seiner Metamedien, in: Ästhetiken der Skulptur: Form, Bild und Mensch (1766-1920), Summerschool, 2014
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University L'Âme de Lotus: Floral Animations in French Art around 1900, in: Rendez-vous. A seminar on French art (18th to 20th centuries), 2013
Princeton University The plant soul in fine arts, dance and film around 1900, in: Seminar Animation: Art, Architecture, History, 2013
University of Basel Les Fleurs animées: Beseelte Blumen sind tanzende Blumen, in: Floriography, Graduate School of History, Workshop, 2013
University of Zurich - Dekoration und Defloration: Gender und Sexualität der Blume in der Kunst um 1900, in: Research Colloquium, 2013
- Gemüse-Genie und Fleurs animées. Die Pflanze als künstlerisches Ideal um 1900, in: Research Colloquium, 2012
Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (SIK-ISEA) - Animismus und Morphogenese in Darstellungen von Pflanzenmenschen um 1900, in: Research Promotion Program, May 2012
- Reanimation der Künste: Wie um 1900 in den neuen Medien Fotografie und Film das Problem der Verlebendigung verhandelt wird, in: Scientific Commission, 2012
Freie Universität Berlin Blumenkinder. Botanophilie, Phytomorphose und Wiedergeburt im Lotos, in: Floriography, DFG Graduate School „Schriftbildlichkeit“, Workshop, 2011
Center for Literary and Cultural
Research Berlin (ZfL)		 „Du lebst und tust mir nichts.“ Magische und künstlerische Verlebendigung in bildender Kunst und Wissenschaft, in: Die 'Erste Kulturwissenschaft' und ihr Potential für die Gegenwart,Summer School, 2011
University of Bern Das Material des Immateriellen (charing of section and concluding paper), in: Erster Schweizerischer Kongress für Kunstgeschichte (VKKS), 2010
UZH and ETH Euresearch
Collegium Helveticum, Zurich		 Reanimation of the arts around 1900, in: Euraxess Think Tank, 2010
University of Hamburg and University College London Lebendige Materie: Jean-Joseph Carriès Keramiken – eine Kontaktkunst?, in: Materialwissen, Warburg Haus Hamburg, Study Course, 2009
Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Das „Europäische“ in Hokusais Ukiyo-e. Ein Beispiel für hybride Kunst im Japan des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts, in: Die Kunstgeschichte und die Herausforderung der Anthropologie, 5. International Spring School, 2007
University of Marburg Real, Ideal, Fatal: Frauendarstellungen im öffentlichen Raum Zürichs, in: 70. Kunsthistorische Studierendenkonferenz, Mai 2006

Professional Affiliation

Since 07/2012 Alumni Art History, University of Zurich
President and founding member: Organization of lectures and events, fundraising
2021 Förderpreis Kunstwissenschaft VKKS
Jury member: Choosing the junior and senior winner
12/2009 – 05/2016 Articulations. Swiss Association for young academics in Art History
President: Organization of lectures and events, lobbying
02/2005–06/2008 Student Association Department of Art History, University of Zurich
President: Communication between students and institute, evaluation of the institute, appellate procedures, organization of lectures and events, allocation of teaching assignments
Since 2009 Swiss Association of Art Historians (VKKS)
Member

Publications

Books

  • Noémie Etienne/Claire Brizon/Chonja Lee/Etienne Wismer, Exotic Switzerland. Looking Outward in the Age of Enlightenment, Diaphanes, Berlin/Zurich, 2020.
  • Noémie Etienne/Claire Brizon/Chonja Lee/Etienne Wismer Une Suisse exotique ? Regarder l’ailleurs en Suisse au siècle des Lumières, Diaphanes, Berlin/Zurich, 2020.
  • Chonja Lee, Anima vegetativa. Florale Animationen in Film, Tanz und bildender Kunst Frankreichs um 1900, thesis University of Zurich, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, in preparation.
  • Maya Burtscher/Chonja Lee, Kunst vor der Haustür. 7 Rundgänge zu 120 Plastiken im öffentlichen Raum Zürichs, Zurich, Limmat Edition, 2021, in press.

Chapters in collective Books

  • Chonja Lee, “’Chintzes as Printed Matter and their Entanglement within the Transatlantic Slave Trade“, in: Rhapsodic Objects : Art, Agency, and Materiality, ed. by Yaëlle Biro and Noémie Etienne, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022, in preparation.
  • Chonja Lee, “Revolutionary Flowers. Sex and Politics in early modern Dance“, in: Questioning the Non-Human Other: Political Potentials of Living Beings in Contemporary Art, conference proceedings, ed. by Sabine Flach and Suzanne Anker, 2022, in preparation.
  • Chonja Lee, „Ausdruck ohne Bewusstsein. Vegetabiler Animismus bei Charles Darwin, Lucien Bull und Germaine Dulac“, in: Ökologien des Ausdrucks/Ecologies of Expression (Naturbilder), conference proceedings, ed. by Frank Fehrenbach and Matthew Vollgraff, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, in press.
  • Chonja Lee, “’Flatter the taste of the Blacks’. European Chintz Designs for West African Consumers in the early 19th Century“, in: Produire du nouveau ? Arts – Techniques – Sciences en Europe (1400-1900), conference proceedings, 2021, in press.
  • Chonja Lee, “Swiss Chintzes: Cotton Threads and Political Patterns”, in: Exotic Switzerland? Looking Outward in the Age of Enlightenment, ed. Noémie Etienne, Claire Brizon, Chonja Lee, Etienne Wismer, Diaphanes, Berlin/Zurich, 2020, pp. 243–256.
  • Chonja Lee, « Les indiennes suisses : fils de coton et motifs politiques », in: Une Suisse exotique ? Regarder l’ailleurs en Suisse au siècle des Lumières, éd. Noémie Etienne, Claire Brizon, Chonja Lee, Etienne Wismer, Diaphanes, Berlin/Zurich, 2020, pp. 245–260.
  • Chonja Lee, „Bedruckte Baumwolle: Medientheoretische Überlegungen zu einem Textil im scheinbaren Widerspruch zur Textilität“, in: xviii.ch: Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die Erforschung des 18. Jahrhunderts, 9 (2018), pp. 53–71.

Exhibition Catalog

  • Blütezeit, Kat. Ausst. DZ Bank Kunstsammlung, Art Foyer Frankfurt am Main, DZB Art Foyer 2014.

Online Publications

Articles in Journals and Newspapers

  • Noémie Etienne/Chonja Lee, „Lustro, Laca e Liotard. Técnicas e Texturas entra Asia e Europa. A superfície brilhante à moda da China é um fenômeno de crossmedia“, translated by.Maria Cristina, Volpi, in: Obras, São Paulo, 2021/31, pp. 439–455.
  • „Was ist das ‚Exotische‘?“, in: Kulturplatz. SRF, 20.10.2020.
  • „EXOTIC? Von der Forschung zur Ausstellung“, in: Uniaktuell. Das Online Magazin der Universität Bern, 14.9.2020.
  • Noémie Etienne/Chonja Lee, „Lüster, Lack und Liotard: Techniken und Texturen zwischen Asien und Europa“, in: Kunst + Architektur in der Schweiz (Chinoiserie), Bern: Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte, 2018/1, pp. 4–11.
  • „América Latina“, in: Eikon. Internationale Zeitschrift für Photographie und Medienkunst, Heft 84, ed. by the Austrian Institute for Photography and Media Art , Vienna, Triton-Edition 2014, pp. 116–117.
  • „Lorna Simpson“, in: Eikon. International Magazine for Photography and Media Art, Heft 83, ed. by the Austrian Institute for Photography and Media Art, Vienna, Triton-Edition 2013, pp. 54–55.

Curriculum Vitae

since 11/2016 University of Bern
Postdoc: Habilitation project on Indiennes Textiles in Switzerland and France in the 18th Century
08/2007 – 02/2020 Museum Rietberg
Art mediator: Conceiving and carrying out guided tours (German/French)
09/2015 – 08/2016 University of Geneva
Teaching fellow at the chair of Prof. Dario Gamboni
02/2015   University of Zurich
PhD graduation insigni cum laude in Art History
Thesis: Anima vegetativa. Florale Animationen in Film, Tanz und bildender Kunst Frankreichs um 1900 (advisors: Prof. Tristan Weddigen and Prof. Oscar Bätschmann)
05/2013 – 09/2014 Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte in Paris
Visiting researcher, grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
09/2013 – 12/2013 Princeton University
PhD student, grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
(advisor: Prof. Spyros Papapetros)
09/2009 – 09/2012 Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA)
Doctoral fellow in the Research Promotion Program, scholarship by the SIK-ISEA
09/2008 – 09/2009 University of Geneva
Scientific assistant at the chair of Prof. Dario Gamboni (teaching and research)
03/2009 University of Zurich
M.A. summa cum laude in European and East Asian Art History and Political Science
Thesis: Real, ideal, fatal: Frauendarstellung im öffentlichen Raum Zürichs
2005, 2007, 2014 University of Zurich
Teaching one BA-seminar, Co-teaching BA and MA seminars

Prizes, Awards, Grants, and Fellowships

05/2021  Winner of the award "Junge Wissenschaft" by the Walter Benjamin Kolleg
02/2019–02/2021 Maximum SNSF-Agora grant for exhibition project at the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne
09/2013–09/2014 12 months research fellowship by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
09/2009–09/2012 3 years research fellowship by Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA)
03/2009 Prize for M.A. summa cum laude by the University of Zurich