Ina Blom

Ina Blom is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo and serves as the Wigeland Visiting Professor at the Department of Art History, University of Chicago. Her research focuses on modernism/avant-garde studies and contemporary art with particular emphasis on media aesthetics and the relationship between art, technology, media and politics.

Blom's research spans multiple disciplines, exploring video as a memory technology, infrastructural sensibilities, and the intersections of artistic practice with technological systems. Her work consistently examines how media technologies transform artistic expression and social relations, with special attention to spatial organization and social interaction in contemporary art contexts. She has developed significant theoretical frameworks around media sociality, video publics, and the relationship between boredom and artistic practice.

Her scholarly output demonstrates a clear trajectory from early work on avant-garde practices through video art history to contemporary explorations of infrastructure and spatial sensibilities. Recent publications show increasing focus on the relationship between artistic practice and infrastructural systems, with particular attention to linearity and movement as conceptual frameworks.

Blom has directed and participated in several major Norwegian Research Council (NFR) supported projects including The Archive in Motion (2011-2014), Media Aesthetics (2004-2008), and Aesthetics at Work (2003-2007), demonstrating sustained research funding and collaborative scholarly activity.

As an active art critic, she contributes regularly to prominent publications including Artforum, Afterall, Parkett, and Texte zur Kunst. Her editorial service includes membership on the international editorial board of Art History: Journal of the Association of Art Historians (2012-2016) and current service on the editorial boards of MAST: The Journal of Media Art, Study and Theory and Journal of Art History.

Blom is currently working on a book titled "On Following. Straight Lines and Infrastructural Sensibilities" to be published by University of Chicago Press, which extends her exploration of spatial and infrastructural dimensions in contemporary art practices.