The Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture (IMAREAL) provides the financial and human resources for MEMO. Together with REALonline and other databases MEMO is a part of IMAREAL’s “digital family”, and is their youngest brainchild.
Since its foundation in 1969, IMAREAL has been devoted to working with objects and realia: From the starting point of material culture as an important medium for social communication, the research focuses on exploring the diversity of ways of life in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. The objective of the work of IMAREAL is the development of cultural scientific theory in close interconnection with object-oriented research. This goal is pursued in a continuous interdisciplinary dialogue and bundled in two common research perspectives: The types, properties, and effects of object-object relationships (ensembles) and person-object relationships (scenarios) are examined with regard to the constitution of material culture from the perspective of “object links”. The research perspective “materialities” focuses on materials whose properties are at the crossroads between sensory-imparted empirical knowledge and written scholarly knowledge and the interplay of different, historically varying functions and meanings. More information about the IMAREAL research projects can be found on the Institute’s webpage.
Kinderspielzeug, 1400–1500
Stadtmuseum Tulln, NÖ
REALonline Bild Nr. 7002472