Denise Petzold is a PhD candidate at the Philosophy Department of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Her project is positioned in the ‘Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music’ (MCICM) and supervised by Prof. dr. Peter Peters and Prof. dr. Karin Bijsterveld. In her research, she examines how the heritage of symphonic music, particularly on the level of works and the canon, is made obdurate through a range of different musical practices. The study’s theoretical background is rooted in Science and Technology Studies as well as Museum Studies, more specifically conservation theory.

Previously, Denise has worked as an assistant curator at the contemporary art museum Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen, Germany, where she co-organised two large-scale exhibitions including their accompanying publications.

She obtained both her bachelor’s degree (BA Arts & Culture) and her master’s degree (MSc Cultures of Arts, Science and Technology) from FASoS, and graduated cum laude in both programmes. After completing a research internship at Tate, London, during her studies, Denise focused on the conservation of performance art, more specifically the role of documentation in shaping the ‘lives’ of performative artworks in museums. For this her master thesis, she was awarded the student prize for best master theses of 2016 by Maastricht University.

Recent publications include: 

• Spronck, V., & Petzold, D. (2017). For the Sake of Experiencing: Technological Mediation between Installation Artworks and their Visitors. Kunstlicht, 38(4), 100-107.

• Petzold, D. (2018). Documents of Contemporary Cuban Performance Art: Pasts, Presents and Futures in Dialogue. In: Beitin, A. (Ed.). Art x Cuba. Contemporary Perspectives since 1989 (pp. 206-213). Aachen: Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst. Cologne: Wienand Verlag.