On Monday, 16 June 2025, 4.15–6.30 pm, Prof. Dr. Henry Keazor (Heidelberg) will give his Fellow Lecture on the topic “Ein bislang vernachlässigtes Kulturgut? Gästebücher digital” (“A cultural good that has been neglected until now? Digital guest books”) (in German) (room 201, 2nd floor of the Philosophikum, Domplatz 23):

Guest books are a genre that has been virtually neglected both historically and methodically. However, the insights that can be gained from studying them can be illustrated by the example of a planned project that would like to look at the guest books of the brothers Nicola (1886-1967) and Franz Moufang (1893-1984). The volumes cover the periods 1917–1984 (Franz, in 17 volumes) and 1922–1960 (Nicola, in 31 volumes), i.e. the period from the German monarchy to the Federal Republic. While Franz's guest books cover a more regional-national radius (Heidelberg, Germany), and Nicolas's a more international horizon, they complement each other. Over the decades, a large number of extremely prominent national and international personalities from the fields of art, culture and politics have signed the guest books, often leaving behind previously unknown works of art (drawings, graphics, poems, texts). The aim of the project, which seeks to fully develop, annotate and publish the guest books online, is to create a digital edition that not only provides access to the guest books with annotations, but also to substantially develop them through data visualisation. In particular, the dense network of relationships between the people, between the occasions, places and times, as well as the media (artworks, photographs, texts) inserted into the guest books, is made visible. The digital indexing is understood here as an integral part of the editing process, through which a comprehensive analysis and exploration of the guest books for scholars and the public is made possible in the first place.

Prof. Dr. Henry Keazor has been Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Heidelberg since 2012. In addition to French and Italian Baroque painting, Keazor’s research focuses on the illustration of the discovery of America in the early modern period, contemporary architecture (particularly that of Jean Nouvel), visual art and its reception, for example in literature and the media, as well as music videos.