Extraktion und Abstraktion (Basel, 8-9 Apr 27)

Extraction and Abstraction: Material, Form, and Ecology in Modern Art.

Universität Basel, eikones – Zentrum für die Theorie und Geschichte des Bildes, Apr 8–09, 2027
Deadline: Nov 15, 2026

The concept of extraction has been gaining significant traction in the humanities over recent years. The extraction of physical raw materials is only one of the possible forms of extractive labor; the generation of data and knowledge can also be understood as a practice of extraction. From an ecological perspective, the term has gained importance particularly since industrialization, pointing toward a redefined relationship between humans and nature.
In modern visual art, engaging with practices of material extraction is a central and recurring concern. Landscape depictions are permeated by forms and sites of resource extraction. With the rise of industrialization from the 19th century onward, artists turned their attention increasingly toward rural and urban sites of material extraction – such as mines or quarries – as well as factories and industrial facilities, incorporating them as new visual motifs. The focus rests both on eco- and socio-critical reflections on extractive practices and on how landscapes are rendered materially usable and physically transformed. Here, the ecological foundation becomes the basic condition for sustaining human life, emphasizing human dependency on it with newfound clarity.
Artistic engagements with forms of extraction can be linked to processes of abstraction visible in both extractive labor and artistic creation. Geometric landscape structures, regularities, axes of symmetry, and repetitive work processes are recurring elements of both modern society and art. At the same time, the conceptual and etymological affinity between extraction and abstraction became a central concept in early 20th century discourses on abstraction. These were shaped by the idea that artistic abstraction should be understood as extracting the essential. This reveals a transformation process no longer rooted purely in a material understanding of extraction, but one that takes on a conceptual dimension directly linked to the production process of the artwork.
Ultimately, transformation processes and the utilization of natural resources become conditions of art production itself. The application of materials and their creative execution demand an extractive process that is negotiated within the works both formally and thematically.

The conference aims to examine which forms of extraction become visible in the visual arts of the 19th and 20th centuries, how they are depicted or become prerequisite conditions for artistic production, and how they inform discourses on abstraction. We welcome submissions from art history, image and media studies, philosophy, design history, and related disciplines.

Submission Guidelines
Papers may be submitted in German or English. A passive understanding of both languages is expected. Presentations should not exceed 25 minutes and will be followed by a discussion. Please send the title, abstract (max. 300 words), and a brief biography, all combined into a single PDF document, by November 15, 2026, to el*********@****as.ch

Travel and accommodation costs up to a certain amount will be covered.