This volume presents a collection of original papers at the intersection of philosophy, the history of science, cultural and theatrical studies. Based on a series of case studies on the 17th century, it contributes to an understanding of the role played by instruments at the interface of science and art. The papers pursue the hypothesis that the development and construction of instruments make a substantive contribution to the opening of new fields of knowledge, the development of new cultural practices, but also to the delineation of particular genres, methods, and disciplines. This perspective leads the authors to reflect anew on what actually defines an instrument and to develop a series of basic questions to determine what an instrument is - which actions does the instrument incorporate? - which actions does the instrument make possible? - when do the objects of examination themselves become instruments? - what skills are required to use an instrument, which skills does it produce? With its combination of new theoretical models and historical case studies, its detailed demonstration of the mutual influence of art and science with the instrument as the point of intersection, this volume enters new territory. It is of great value for all those interested in the history of our perception of instruments. Besides the editors, the authors of the papers are: Joerg Jochen Berns, Olaf Breidbach, Georges Didi-Huberman, Peter Galison, Sybille Kramer, Dieter Mersch, Hans-Joerg Rheinberger, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, and Otto Sibum.

This volume launches a new, eight-volume series entitled Theatrum Scientiarum on the history of science and the media which has arisen from the work of the Berlin special research project on "Performative Cultures" under the aegis of the Theatre Studies Department of the Free University. The volume examines the role of space in the constitution of knowledge in the early modern age. "Kunst-kammern" (art and curiosities cabinets), laboratories and stages arose in the 17th century as instruments of research and representation. There is, however, still a lack of precise descriptions of the epistemic contribution made by material and immaterial space in the performance of knowledge. Therefore, the authors present a novel view of the conditions surrounding the creation of these spatial forms. Account is taken both of the institutional framework of these spaces and their placement within the history of ideas, the architectural models and the modular differentiations, and the scientific consequences of particular design decisions. Manifold paths are followed between the location of the observer in the representational space of science and the organization in time and space of sight, speech and action in the canon of European theatrical forms. Not only is an account given of the mutual architectural and intellectual influence of the spaces of knowledge and the performance spaces of art; they are also analyzed to ascertain what was possible in them and through them. This volume is the English translation of Kunst-Kammer, Laboratorium, Buhne (de Gruyter, Berlin, 2003).

Examining the recourse to alchemical experimental practices by the early 20th century avant-garde movement in Europe opens up a surprising perspective on the relationship between art and science in the early modern and modern eras. This volume explores the Theatrum alchemicum as a natural philosophical labyrinth, a hybrid melting pot of mythical knowledge and rational understanding, and as a skillful practice of philosophizing with materials.

The book series Theatrum Scientiarum compiles original studies at the interface of philosophy, the history of science, cultural studies and theatre studies. Now the 4th volume is published, Traces of the Avant-garde: Theatrum machinarum, focusing on the origins of the machine paradigm and its cultural establishment in the 17th century from the perspective of the avant-garde obsession with machinery. The aesthetic, epistemological and political factors established with this paradigm are analysed from the perspective of the artistic and artful questioning of the mechanical in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This volume presents a collection of original papers at the intersection of philosophy, the history of science, cultural and theatrical studies. Based on a series of case studies on the 17th century, it contributes to an understanding of the role played by instruments at the interface of science and art. The papers pursue the hypothesis that the development and construction of instruments make a substantive contribution to the opening up of new fields of knowledge, to the development of new cultural practices, but also to the delineation of particular genres, methods and disciplines. This perspective leads the authors of the papers to reflect anew on what it is that actually defines an instrument and to develop a series of basic questions to determine what an instrument is - which actions does the instrument incorporate? - which actions does the instrument make possible? - when do the objects of examination themselves become instruments? - what skills are required to use an instrument, which skills does it produce? With its combination of new theoretical models and historical case studies, its detailed demonstration of the mutual influence of art and science with the instrument as the point of intersection, this volume enters new territory. It is of great value for all those interested in the history of our perception of instruments. Besides the editors, the authors of the papers are: Joerg Jochen Berns, Olaf Breidbach, Georges Didi-Huberman, Peter Galison, Sybille Kramer, Dieter Mersch, Hans-Joerg Rheinberger, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, and Otto Sibum.

This volume launches a new, eight-volume series entitled Theatrum Scientiarum on the history of science and the media which has arisen from the work of the Berlin special research project on "Performative Cultures" under the aegis of the Theatre Studies Department of the Free University. The volume, authored by distinguished academics, examines the role of space in the constitution of knowledge in the early modern age. Kunstkammern (art and curiosities cabinets), laboratories and stages arise in the 17th century as instruments of research and representation. There is, however, still a lack of precise descriptions of the epistemic contribution made by material and immaterial space in the performance of knowledge. Therefore, the authors of this volume present a novel view of the conditions surrounding the creation of these spatial forms. Account is taken both to the institutional framework of these spaces and their placement within the history of ideas, the architectural models and the modular differentiations, and to the scientific consequences of particular design decisions. Manifold paths are followed between the location of the observer in the representational space of science and the organisation in time and space of sight, speech and action in the canon of European theatrical forms. An account is given not only of the mutual architectural and intellectual influence of the spaces of knowledge and the performance spaces of art; they are also analysed to ascertain what was possible in them and through them.

Dieser Band ist der dritte der auf insgesamt acht Bande angelegten Reihe Theatrum Scientiarum, die die Konstituierungsphase neuzeitlicher Kunst und Wissenschaft aus einem neuen Blickwinkel untersucht. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, auf welche Weise Experimente und ihre Durchfuhrung dazu beigetragen haben, die kulturelle Landschaft seit der Fruhen Neuzeit grundlegend zu verandern. Die Beitrage zeigen auf, dass dem poetologischen Diskurs und der barocken Inszenierungspraxis fur die Hervorbringung und soziale Durchsetzung von experimentellem Wissen im 17. Jahrhundert entscheidende Bedeutung zukommt.