Lic. Dr. Dr. Mădălina Diaconu, Privatdoz. MA

Academic Positions: 

  • Lecturer at the Institute of Philosophy
  • Lecturer at the Department of Romance Studies
  • External lecturer at the Institute for Intercultural Philosophy of Religion

 

Short biography: 

Madalina Diaconu is Privatdozentin at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Vienna, lecturer at the Department of Romance Studies, and member of the editorial boards “Contemporary Aesthetics”, “Studia Phaenomenologica” and “polylog. Zeitschrift für interkulturelles Philosophieren”. She authored eleven monographs and (co)edited several books on phenomenology, the aesthetics of touch, smell and taste, urban sensescapes, and environmental ethics. Her main publications in the field of aesthetics are Tasten, Riechen, Schmecken. Eine Ästhetik der anästhesierten Sinne (2005, 22020), Sinnesraum Stadt. Eine multisensorische Anthropologie (2012) and Aesthetics of Weather (forthcoming). She co-curated the exhibition “Olfactor. Scent is Present” at the Städtische Galerie Bremen (2021) and published several papers on olfactory aesthetics. 

More information on current publications, lectures and projects can be found on Madalina Diaconu's homepage.

 

Research Areas: 

Aesthetics (social aesthetics, urban aesthetics, environmental aesthetics, phenomenology of atmosphere, olfactory aesthetics, theological aesthetics, architectural theory and sensory design, aesthetics of everyday life), ecophenomenology, intercultural philosophy, ecotheology, Romanian Studies (Romanian philosophy; contemporary art)

 

Education: 

1993 lic. in Philosophy at the University of Bucharest

1996 Doctorate at the University of Bucharest

1998 Doctorate at the University of Vienna

2005 Habilitation in Philosophy at the University of Vienna

2021 MA, Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Vienna

 

Academic Career:

1993-2003: Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

2001-2004: Research Assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (FWF)

2003-2005: External Lecturer at the University of applied Arts Vienna

2005-2006: Junior Scientist, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖNB)

Since 2006: External Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna

2007-2010: Project Manager, Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna (WWTF)

Since 2012: Lecturer at the Department of Romance Studies, University of Vienna

2021-2024: External Lecturer at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg

Guest lecturer at the University of Cluj-Napoca, Charles University Prague, University of Regensburg

 

Research Projects: 

Ästhetik der „niederen Sinne“, Design of urban sensescapes (Kooperation Universität Wien, BOKU, Universität für angewandte Kunst, ZOOM-Kindermuseum), Ästhetik (Kooperation Österreich–Tschechische Republik), interkulturelle Philosophie und Umweltphilosophie (Kooperation Österreich–Slowakei)

Rumänische Ideengeschichte (Kooperation mit der Rumänischen Akademie der Wissenschaften)

Aesthetics of the “lower senses”, design of urban sensescapes (cooperation University of Vienna, BOKU, University of Applied Arts, ZOOM Children's Museum), aesthetics (cooperation Austria-Czech Republic), intercultural philosophy and environmental philosophy (cooperation Austria-Slovakia)

Romanian history of ideas (co-operation with the Romanian Academy of Sciences)

 

Book series and editorial supervision of Journals:   

Contemporary Aesthetics (Castine, US)

Studia Phaenomenologica (Bukarest)

Polylog. Zeitschrift für interkulturelles Philosophieren (Wien), former editorial director

„Transkulturelle Forschungen an den Österreich-Bibliotheken im Ausland“, Book series published by BMEIA, member of the editorial board

Atmospheric Spaces, Associate Member

The Interlocutor. Journal of the Warsaw School of the History of Ideas, Advisory Board

 

Publications (selection):

Monographs

Aesthetics of Weather, Bloomsbury (forthcoming 2024)

Ideengeschichte Rumäniens, Brill/Schöningh 2021

Tasten, Riechen, Schmecken. Eine Ästhetik der anästhesierten Sinne, Königshausen & Neumann 2005, 22020

Environmental Ethics. Cross-Cultural Explorations (Mithg.), Alber 2020

Grenzen im Denken Europas. Mittel- und osteuropäische Ansichten (Mithg.), New Academic Press 2017

Phänomenologie der Sinne, Reclam 2013

Constantin Noica, De dignitate Europae (Edition), Traugott Bautz 2012

Sinnesraum Stadt. Eine multisensorische Anthropologie, Lit 2012

Blickumkehr. Mit Martin Heidegger zu einer relationalen Ästhetik, Lang 2000

Pe marginea abisului. Søren Kierkegaard şi nihilismul secolului al XIX-lea, Ed. Ştiinţifică 1996

 

Articles: 

The fragrant seal of the Spirit: the aesthetics of chrism, in: ESPES. The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics, “Olfactory Aesthetics” (forthcoming 2024)

From Making to Lighting a Candle: On Functions, Meanings, and Bodies in Ritual Design, in: Somaesthetics and Design Culture, ed. by R. Shusterman and B. Veres, Brill, 2023, 50-76

Ikonische Realpräsenz und fotografischer Realismus. Eine Gegenüberstellung im Ausgang von Roland Barthes, in: Facetten gegenwärtiger Bildtheorie: Interkulturelle und interdisziplinäre Perspektiven, hg. v. S. Seitz et al., Springer, 2018, 171-189

The Sky Around Our Bodies. Climate and Environmental Perception, in: A. Michaels, C. Wulf (Eds.), Exploring the Senses. South Asian and European Perspectives on Rituals and Performativity, Routledge, 2014, 317-337

Düfte: materia subtilis der Lüfte, in: Ästhetik der Materialität, hg. von C. Heibach und C. Rohde, Fink, 2015, 288-314

 

Curated Exhibition:

May-June 2021: exhibition “Olfactor. Scent is Present” at the Städtische Galerie Bremen (2021) (together with I. Lähnemann)

 

Memberships:

Wiener Gesellschaft für interkulturelle Philosophie, Vice-President

International Association for Aesthetics

European Network for Everyday Aesthetics (EvA-Network)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ästhetik

European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment

Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum