KHK Visiting Research Fellow 2010 & 2012
Adjunct Professor for Cultural Studies and Literature, Department of Modern Culture and Languages, University of Pavia, Italy

Since 2001 Heinz Georg Held is Adjunct Professor (Professore a contratto) in the Department of Modern Culture and Languages at the University of Pavia. Prior to that he has been Lecturer in Literature and Art History at Freie Universität Berlin. In addition to his academic endeavors he is also a prolific journalist, author, translator and curator. He received research scholarships from the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, the Deutsche Akademische Ausstauschdienst and from the Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani.

His research focuses on European history of art and philosophy from the renaissance to the 20^th century, with special focus on the theory and history of translation, present theories of art and media, and interdisciplinary aspects of culture. During his presence in Bochum 2010 he has been investigating the function of visual arts as religious attractors or repulsors, and was substantially involved in the conceptualization of our annual conference “Modes and Models of Religious Attraction.” In 2011 he will continue his research and co-organize the second part of the attraction conference.

Education

• Ph.D., Art History, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 1990
• M.A., General and Comparative Literature, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 1982

KHK Fellowship

Duration: August to October 2010, July 2012 to September 2012
Project: Attraction and Repulsion in Religious Picture Acts