Viola van Beek

Born 1979 in Hamburg/Germany.

Viola van Beek focuses on German and cultural studies. She studied modern German literature, cultural studies and computer science at the Humboldt University of Berlin from 1999 to 2006 graduating with an MA. From 2002 to 2003, she studied History of Science, Sociology and German Studies at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Her final dissertation is entitled »Experimentelle Ästhetik bei Kleist? Wissenschaftliche Strukturen und literarisches Schreiben« (Experimental aesthetics in Kleist? Scientific structures and literary writing).

Viola van Beek was a fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in the department of Prof. Rheinberger. In her research project she dealt with experimental instruction manuals and experimental spaces around 1900.

From 2005 to 2007 van Beek was a student assistant in the special research department »Transformationen der Antike« (Transformations of Antiquity) at the cultural studies seminar of the Humboldt University. She was responsible for the organization and management of conferences, among others for the international conference »Perpetua’s Passions« (2007).

At the Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (HZK) at the Humboldt University, Viola van Beek was a student assistant for the project »Kabinette des Wissens – Die Sammlungen der Humboldt-Universität« aiming at making the history of the university collections accessible.

Furthermore, she was an intern for press and public relations with the cultural forum for photography »C/O Berlin« (2003) and she was a language assistant at Loreto College in Manchester (2002).

Publications: »Experimentelle Ästhetik bei Kleist? – Plötzliche Wendungen, drängende Umstände und sonderbare Erscheinungen in Heinrich von Kleists Erzählungen«, in: Michael Gamper (Ed.): »Wir sind Experimente: wollen wir es auch sein!« Experiment und Literatur II: 1790-1890, Göttingen: Wallstein (forthcoming 2010); »›Man lasse doch diese Dinge selber einmal sprechen‹ – Experimentierkästen, Experimentalanleitungen und Erzählungen zwischen 1870 und 1930«, in: NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin (in print); »Plastiksaurier im Kinderzimmer. Wie Darwins Evolutionstheorie nicht nur bei Erwachsenen populär wurde« [conference »Darwin als Erzieher«, Hygiene Museum, Dresden], in: MaxPlanck Journal 2/2009: 19; »Experimental Spaces outside of the Laboratory – Experiment Kits and Instruction Manuals around 1900«, in: The Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 02/2009.

During her fellowship at Solitude, Viola van Beek will coordinate upcoming art, science & business publications as well as several events.