The Institute
The Institute
Lecturers
Current lecturers
- Cornelia Eisler
- Norbert Henzel
- Svenja Jessen
- Jessica Reichelt
Staff teachers
Former professors
- Prof. Dr Heike Derwanz
- Prof Dr Karen Ellwanger
- Prof Ingrid Köller †
- Prof Dr Carmen Mörsch
Administration and student affairs
Institute council
Workshops
Sewing workshop (during the lecture-free period – Wednesdays)
Open workshop:
Until 5 August 26: Wednesdays from 12 noon to 4 pm WITHOUT advice or supervision and by appointment only with:
Prof. Dr Stefanie Samida or
Dr Lüder Tietz or
Dr Patricia Mühr
Dates from 5 August 26:
19 August, 2 September, 30 September
Each session runs from 12 noon to 4 pm, and at other times by arrangement with Petra Eller ().
Lending
Equipment hire ( Thursdays 11.00 am – 1.00 pm, by prior arrangement via email)
Bicycles for work-related journeys and student projects ( enquiries by email)
As part of our photo and video equipment hire service, we offer a video tutorial on object biographies, complete with a handout:
→ Watch the video tutorial
→ Go to the handout
Textile Everyday Culture Collection ( enquiries by email)
Feedback
We are very interested in receiving feedback and finding suitable solutions. If you would like to criticise or give feedback, we would be very pleased if you would contact the responsible teachers directly. Your concerns will be dealt with constructively.
However, we would like to point out that anonymous complaints cannot be dealt with. Your student representatives will be happy to represent you if necessary.
If you do not agree with the solution to the problem, you can contact the complaint management of School III.
History of the "Institute of Material Culture"
How did the Institute in its current form come about?
Two important names closely associated with the Institute are Ingrid Köller (✝2002) and Karen Ellwanger. Köller was appointed to a professorship at the University of Oldenburg in 1984 after several periods of training and teaching (including at the former University of Education in Hanover and TU Dortmund University).
In 1994, Karen Ellwanger was appointed to the professorship of "Cultural History of European Textiles", which she held until 2022. Since then, the subject has held two professorships at the University of Oldenburg. At that time still under the title "Institute of Cultural Studies Art-Textile-Media", Ingrid Köller's professorship was initially held from 2003 to 2008 as a junior professorship by Carmen Mörsch (denomination "Material Culture and its Didactics"), and from 2017 to 2021 by Heike Derwanz (denomination "Mediation of Material Culture"). In 2007/08 - as part of the implementation of the Bologna reform and the switch to the Bachelor's and Master's system - the Institute was renamed the "Institute of Material Culture", as it is still called today.
The roots of the Institute thus go back a long way. While Ingrid Köller was instrumental in shaping the didactics of textile material culture, it was Karen Ellwanger who introduced a strong cultural studies perspective and developed the subject towards Anglophone Material Culture Studies.
The source of this text is the institute's own publication "Heike Derwanz und Patricia Mühr (2020): Geldkatzenwäsche. Annotated new edition of Ingrid Köller's writings on the didactics of textile material culture"