Introduction

Research project on digitalization in aesthetics, arts, and cultural education

Is digitalization changing the artistic-aesthetic content of aesthetics, arts, and cultural education? How have aesthetic patterns and processes of perception and reception changed as a result of digital technologies and what opportunities and challenges does this present for AACE?

So far, the effects and consequences of digitalization’s influence on cultural education are largely unexplored. To address this deficit, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has provided funding of around EUR 10 million over four years for interdisciplinary research projects on digitalization in AACE. 25 universities and research institutions are conducting 14 projects at 21 sites across Germany. All projects share an interdisciplinary research approach based on educational sciences and rooted in the discourses of AACE. Both, qualitative and quantitative methods from social science are used to examine the effects of the digital transformation on AACE. Under the funding guidelines, resources are provided for a meta-project that supports the individual projects in the areas of research, monitoring and transfer. The specific projects of individual institutions can be found in the “Projects” section.