Stefan Trinks

Stefan Trinks' studies of History of Art, History and Archaeology of the Classical period and Middle Ages and his search for a different, more art-oriented reception of antiquity, led to his doctoral thesis entitled »Antike und Avantgarde. Skulptur am Jakobsweg im 11. Jahrhundert: Jaca – León – Santiago« (actus et imago; 4), Berlin 2012. [reviewed in: FAZ No 188, 15 August 2013, p. 30]. His professorial dissertation is on the subject of »Glaubensstoffe – Ikonologie belebter Textilien in der mittelalterlichen und zeitgenössischen Kunst.« (The stuff of belief – medieval and contemporary iconology in living textiles). His current research topic Wissen wollen – Mittelalterliche Elfenbeinreliefs als mobile Bilddatenträger von Neugier  (Wanting to know – medieval ivory reliefs as moveable data carriers of curiosity) concerns the handing down and transformation of knowledge through ivory as the most flexible media of the Middle Ages. Another research interest is the iconology of shaped material in the Middle Ages, including ivory, textiles and marble, as well as the deliberate use of drilled holes as Techne. 

Together with K. Jarmuschek, he has run a gallery of contemporary art in Berlin since 2000.

At the Excellence Cluster, he offers advice on questions of materials science and iconological Gestaltung in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as the transfer of images between these periods. 

Monographs, editorial board memberships and essays

• The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela as a Tactile Theater. In: Sabine Marienberg and Jürgen Trabant (eds.): Bildakt at the Warburg Institute London (actus et imago, 13). Berlin/New York 2014, pp. 189–220.
• Video Killed the Painter Star? Neoikonographie und Kanonbildung im Musikvideo 1981–2005. In: Henry Keazor (ed.): »Come ride with me/through the veins of history«: Musikvideo, Kunstgeschichte und Bildwissenschaften. Berlin 2018.