The main aim of the center is to facilitate and develop interdisciplinary and comparative research in the arts (literature, art, music, theater, crafts) and culture of early modernity (approximately 1400–1750).
Another aim is to enhance collaboration with researchers and external institutions: museums, galleries, theaters, music houses, libraries, and other literary institutions.

Main areas of focus

• Historiographical problems
  We aim to explore problems of periodization and historiography; the delimitation of the early modern period; the transhistorical transposition of styles, politics, and forms of expression; and the relation between different European, colonial, and extra-European understandings of periodization.
• Interdisciplinary, intermedial, and contextual perspectives
  The early modern period is characterized by multiple intersections between different forms of artistic expression that are tightly connected to political, religious, and cultural developments. We focus on hybrid artistic forms; intra and intermediality; and the confluence of different textual, visual, auditory, and dramatic forms, in relation to institutional and political contexts.
• Comparative and transnational perspectives
  The comparative scope of the center is both political, artistic, and topological. We investigate comparisons between different religious, national, European, and colonial contexts; between different artistic genres and other forms of textual, visual, performative, and auditory expression; and between different artistic and/or political topoi across borders and periods.
• Extra-institutional collaborations
  The center builds on and aims to enhance collaboration with researchers and art institutions, music houses, theaters, and literary institutions outside the university. Collaborations include exhibitions, dissemination, and research seminars.