Elisa Rufenach-Ruthenberg

Elisa Rufenach-Ruthenberg serves as Scientific Associate and Doctoral Candidate at the Chair of Art and its Didactics within the Faculty of Art and Design at Bauhaus University Weimar. Her roles include Research Assistant since March 2022, Doctoral Candidate since April 2023, and Member of the Pro.Doc Doctoral Council since 2025. She previously served as Decentralized Equal Opportunities Officer (2022-2024) and brings extensive experience from environmental education consultancy (2012-2021) and tutoring across Weimar and Jena universities.

Her research explores performativity-informed teaching, radical democratic pedagogy, and response_ability in knowledge transfer. Key projects include the kunst:pädagogik|portal platform development and MATRIX assessment framework. She investigates how teachers' attitudes—not merely didactic methods—drive professionalization through institutional sociotopes, employing listening practices and artistic interventions as research methodologies.

Publications reveal evolving focus from pandemic pedagogy (2023) to media-based assessment (2025) and critical art historical review. Her work consistently integrates Hartmut von Hentig's didactic frameworks with contemporary theories of situated knowledge and intra-action.

Teaching innovations include:

• Response_ability modules on knowledge communication
• VER_HALTUNGEN examining art educators' societal roles
• 'Was tut der Wind, wenn er weht?' analyzing art university sociotopes
• Repair-focused textile practices connecting craft to social responsibility

Her supervision approach emphasizes collaborative knowledge production where 'the mind is a muscle' requiring workout through performative inquiry. Current grants support the MATRIX project and kunst:pädagogik|portal development, with international collaborations emerging through rural artistic strategy initiatives.