Time: Monday - Thursday, 09:00 - 18:00 o'clock / Friday, 09:00 - 12:00 o'clock
CW 46: 09 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 November 2026
Interested students of other study programmes can register from 15 June - 26 June 2026 by email to: studium.dfa@zhdk.ch. You will be informed until the end of calendar week 28 about a possible participation.
Universität / Haute École
for student applications
Contemporary painting encompasses a broad spectrum of practices, from the application of paint on surfaces to performative, digital, and spatial strategies. Painting functions as a tool for individual and collective expression, image-making, mapping, and socio-cultural transformation. The themes explored through painting are as limitless as the imagination itself, ranging from everyday habits to complex geopolitical dynamics.
Given this expansive field, positioning one’s work becomes ever more critical. This seminar examines contemporary painting in relation to critical and theoretical debates, integrating direct engagement with works in Zurich’s museums and public spaces. Participants will reflect on how existing artistic positions inform their own practice and research, situating their work within ongoing conversations about painting, situatedness, thematic scope, and questions of representation and discursive agency.
About the lecturer:
Dominique Lämmli, artist and philosopher with a PhD in Global Studies, works studio-based and situation-specific and conducts practice-based and theoretical research. Her areas of interest include drawing/painting across media, research methodologies, and working with art in socio-cultural transformative settings. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7171-6263
Course language: English
Learning objectives:
Students are able to,
- contextualize their artistic practice within current critical and theoretical discourses;
- analyze the interplay between artistic practice and research through direct engagement with existing works;
- articulate their own “situatedness” by defining their stance on representation and discursive agency;
- evaluate the role of painting in public and ecological settings to inform future projects.