Ask23!

… First things first …

The ArtSystemArchive (ask23!) has successfully served for many years as a repository and publication platform offering extensive support in the contexts of study-related, professional, or private research in art practice, art theory, art mediation, and other related fields.

The ArtSystemArchive has meanwhile been certified in adherence with international standards through the German Initiative for Network Information (DINI) as an electronic publication server. Accordingly, it is part of a worldwide network connected with other electronic archives, subscribing to the idea of Open Access to encourage unrestricted digital access to academic content.

Ask23! was established in 1999 by Prof. Michael Lingner during his tenure at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HfbK). It has since then been further expanded with a focus on art-historical research, integrating particularly the fields of art history and art theory, philosophical aesthetics, art sociology, art psychology, and art pedagogy. In 2004, it went online and was incorporated into the Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HfbK) as a scientific institution in the Laboratory: Art&Science.

In the subsequent decade, ask23! offered its services for free. However, since Prof. Lingner’s retirement in 2016 the platform no longer receives public funding. The platform’s initiator plans to continue ask23! as an independent platform together with a highly qualified team