Nina Zschocke

Prof. Dr. Nina Zschocke is Professor of Art History with a focus on 'Digital Aesthetics' at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG Karlsruhe) since April 2024. Previously, she served as senior research associate and lecturer at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich until 2023, and as a research associate at the Institute of Art History at the University of Zurich from 2005. She maintains strong connections with the ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe through collaborative projects and lecture series.

Her educational background includes studies in art history, ethnology, and classical archaeology at the University of Cologne, where she earned her doctorate in 2004 with a dissertation on 'irritation' in art reception. She furthered her academic work as a DFG visiting scholar at University College London and Columbia University in New York.

Zschocke's research centers on the intersection of art history, digital aesthetics, and materiality, with particular emphasis on how computational processes reshape artistic production and reception. Her work explores the material dimensions of digital media, algorithmic authority, and unconventional computing paradigms. She investigates how traditional art historical frameworks can be adapted to address contemporary digital practices and the physical manifestations of computational processes in artistic contexts.

Her publications and symposia reveal consistent engagement with digital materiality, examining how digital processes manifest in physical form and how traditional art historical methods apply to contemporary computational practices. Recent work focuses on 'unconventional computing' - exploring alternative physical substrates for computation beyond standard silicon-based systems, and questioning the dominant paradigms of digital technology.

Zschocke has organized numerous significant academic events including the 'Conversations on Art and Media' lecture series (2025), 'Dirty Computers' seminar week (2024), 'Digital Matters Symposium' (2024), and the long-running 'Don18 - Conversations on Art and Architecture' (2006-2022). These events demonstrate her commitment to creating interdisciplinary dialogue platforms that bridge art, architecture, media theory, and computational practices.

Her academic leadership extends to doctoral program development, having co-designed the SNSF doctoral program 'ProDoc Art&Science' (2008-2014) and the 'Doctoral Program in the History and Theory of Architecture' at ETH Zurich (2012-2015). She has taught at multiple institutions including the University of Fribourg, Bremen University of the Arts, and Bern University of the Arts, establishing herself as a significant figure in European art and media theory education.