Dr. Maria Teresa Costa

Maria Teresa Costa joined the Institute for Philosophy and Art History (IPK) as Administrative Professor for the Chair “Philosophy of the Present” in April 2024. She studied Philosophy at Padua University and at Humboldt University in Berlin, and obtained her PhD in Philosophy with a fellowship from Padua University with a dissertation on Walter Benjamin. She was awarded a series of postdoctoral positions at the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung in Berlin, the Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (Max-Planck-Institut), the Warburg Institute of the School for Advanced Study at the University of London, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, among others. She held visiting positions in Rome (Bibliotheca Hertziana), Florence (KHI) and Tel Aviv (Tel Aviv University). A strong interdisciplinary character marks out her research, which is located at the crossroads between Philosophy, Art history, and the History of Science. In particular, her focus lies in the fields of aesthetics and artistic historiography, theoretical and political philosophy, historical epistemology and Translation Studies. She is a specialist of Walter Benjamin and Aby Warburg and is part of the directory board of the International Walter Benjamin Society.