Issue No. 142
June 2026
„MITTELALTER“
Ever since the term Middle Ages came into use, this historical era has been inextricably bound up with notions of alterity. Beginning in the 14th century, the picture of a dark age was utilized as a foil to set off the ideals of Renaissance enlightenment and humanism; later on, the Romantics pioneered the vision of the Middle Ages as an era unspoiled by advancing industrialization, onto which they projected their longing for a way of life in harmony with nature and spirituality. The temptation to escape the complex and unsettled present for an allegedly simpler past is also characteristic of references to the Middle Ages in contemporary pop culture and politics. This issue of TEXTE ZUR KUNST counters such simplistic perspectives with a more nuanced portrayal of the Middle Ages that acknowledges historical parallels and continuities as well as contradictions.
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