“The museum is a sort of sanctum to me”: Kathrin Maurer on museums, meaning-making, and moments of stillness

Art is not merely an object of analysis for Kathrin Maurer; it’s a constant companion in her thinking. When literature, film, and visual arts are both central to your research and personal interests, the line between work and leisure begins to blur - often in the best possible way.

Years ago, Dave Eggers’ The Circle (2010), a dystopian novel exploring the dangers of totalitarian tech culture, became an unexpected source of inspiration for Maurer. Its premise, which at the time seemed like a speculative vision of the far future, sparked profound questions in her mind about digital surveillance and democracy, questions that continue to resonate throughout her work today. As head of the Center for Culture and Technology at the University of Southern Denmark, she brings a literary and artistic lens to the study of how we live with and through  technology.

Between grandeur and groundedness

Kathrin Maurer’s curiosity and ability to let inspiration lead the way have taken her down unexpected career paths. She started her career immersed in nineteenth-century German literature and culture. Today, her research mainly examines the cultural dimensions of modern technologies, from drones and surveillance systems to intelligent machines.

Just as the boundary between work and play often blurs in the realm of art, Maurer’s creative process resists a strict routine. She draws inspiration from an unexpected blend of the extraordinary and the everyday.

- The museum is a sort of sanctum to me: a space to think, sense, and see the world from a new perspective, she explains.

Surrounded by the beauty and grandeur of artworks, her inspiration flourishes, but so do quiet moments of solitude and simplicity. Trivial tasks like cleaning the house, seemingly worlds apart from the contemplative atmosphere of the museum, can also spark a wealth of ideas:

-Honestly, I always get the best ideas when I just lie very still on the sofa and close my eyes. I reach this almost meditative state where I feel like I can really concentrate.

Laugh it off

Over the years, Kathrin Maurer’s academic endeavors and penchant for interdisciplinary projects have led her into conversations with people far outside her own field. Past and present collaborators include experts in drone technology, bio-machinery, and social robotics, seemingly far removed from her background in the humanities. This, she explains, has taught her the sound value of staying open-minded:

- As a researcher, it’s very important not to rely on stereotypes. Instead of putting people in boxes, just listen to each other and laugh off your differences, she states.

Epistemological bias, assumptions that subtly undermine the validity of the humanities, often manifests in the privileging of quantitative data over qualitative insight. As a scholar of the arts in a data-driven world, Maurer is passionate about defending the value of the humanities:

 - We certainly live in a time where the humanities are pushed towards the margins, and data, quantitative arguments, and statistics are often seen as the only concept of truth. Each discipline operates with its own logic, methods, and forms of insight, and their value cannot be assessed by the same standard.

And she does so convincingly, stating that the humanities pose tremendous value to academia and society because art, culture, language, and history are tools that help us reflect, contextualize, and ask deeper, more challenging questions.

The humanities encourage us to think beyond metrics and outcomes and instead consider personality, ethics, and imagination, qualities often embodied in literature’s most memorable characters. This mindset is evident when Maurer, drawing on her background in literature, is asked which fictional character she might choose as a research collaborator:

- One of my favourite fictional characters is Oblomov (from the eponymous novel by Ivan Goncharov, 1859). He rarely leaves his room, but he has all these great ideas. I love this character because he also represents a charming counterpoint to this constant talk of productivity and efficiency.

However, she soon reconsiders her choice, leaving the brilliant yet lazy Oblomov lounging in his armchair: 

- On the other hand, that could perhaps make him a frustrating collaborator, so ultimately, I would go with Charlie’s Angels. They would get the job done, Kathrin Maurer asserts with a chuckle.