Henrik Reeh

Primary fields of research

Henrik Reeh covers the research fields of humanistic urban studies and studies in modern culture.

Insight into Henrik Reeh's fields of research and thesis supervision is provided by the book RUMLIG KULTUR / SPATIAL CULTURE: Studier i urbanitet og æstetik / Studies in Urbanity and Aesthetics (København: Museum Tusculanums Forlag, 2012), ed. Henrik Reeh, Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen, Henriette Steiner, Birgitte Bundesen Svarre. 325 pages, 110 illustrations with captions in English and Danish, abstracts in English 

Based in humanistic urban studies as practiced in the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, SPATIAL CULTURE outlines a novel framework for understanding the social and cultural environments of the modern and contemporary metropolis.

The contributions focus on urban and suburban cultures of Copenhagen, New York, Hong Kong, Berlin and anderswo, demonstrating how the precise analysis of cultural and artistic phenomena informs a multilayered understanding of the relationships between urbanity and aesthetics. The articles span five realms: sensory and conceptual architecture, urban spaces, aesthetic textualities, collective memory, and spatial consciousness, all of which contribute to establishing spatial culture as an important field of research within the humanities.

Considerable parts of the volume are in both English and Danish. Along with the introductory chapter by Henrik Reeh, Associate Professor of Humanistic Urban Studies and Modern Culture, University of Copenhagen, and the final essay by Albertó Pérez-Gómez, Professor of the History of Architecture, McGill University, the substantial captions of more than 100 illustrations make SPATIAL CULTURE accessible to an international readership. All contributions contain abstracts in English.

Henrik Reeh is the author of the following books:

Med rum som ramme – Torben Ebbesen. Kunst på offentlige steder 1982-2007 [Spatial Frames – Torben Ebbesen. Space in public places 1982 – 2007] (Copenhagen: Borgen Publishers, 2007). 108 p., illustrations by the author.

Ornaments of the Metropolis: Siegfried Kracauer and Modern Urban Culture (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2005 [hardcover], 2006 [paperback]), 260 p., illustrations by the author.

Byens Havn [The City’s Harbour] With Jens Bertelsen, Bertel Bruun, Karin Lind, Torben Nielsen, Susse Fischer & Morten Stræde [research group appointed by the National Arts Foundation] (Copenhagen: Statens Kunstfond, 2004), 225 p., ill.

Den urbane udfordring. Tretten variationer over den moderne bykultur (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2002). 481 p., ill. by the author. Summary in English: “The Urban Dimension: Thirteen Variations on Modern Urban Culture”.

Storbyens Ornamenter – Siegfried Kracauer og den moderne bykultur (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 1991). 285 p., ill. by the author.

Knowledge of languages

CV

Education

Cand.mag. in History and the Social Sciences

Maître ès Lettres Modernes (Master of Arts: Modern Literature, Université Paris VII)

Diplômé d'Etudes Approfondies in Etudes littéraires: histoire et sémiologie du texte et de l'image (Université Paris VII)

Ph.D. in Comparative Literature.

International decoration:

Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Officer af de Akademiske Palmer - fransk orden), 2005

Employment

2005  Visiting Professor, Center for Public Space Research, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen

1997- Associate Professor of Humanististic Urban Studies and Modern Culture, Dept. of Comparative Literature, later Dept. of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

1995-1997 Research Associate Professor, Center for Urbanity & Aesthetics, University of Copenhagen

1993-1995 Research fellow, Humanities Research Center - Man & Nature, Odense University

1989-1992 Junior research fellow, Center for Comparative Literature & Semiotics, Odense University

Teaching

Henrik Reeh regularly teaches

"Cultural Theory" to undergraduate students of comparative literature (4th semester) as well as students of other disciplines (6th semester); 

and "Urban Culture and Cultural Theory" to graduate students of comparative literature and modern culture as well as to students of the joint master's programme "4cities - UNICA Euromaster in Urban Studies" (see 4cities.eu).