Clara Nicolay

Clara Nicolay is a university assistant in the Department of Arts and Musicology since October 2025. In her dissertation Between Stage and Canvas: Theatrical Events, Artistic Production, and Network Formation in Florence around 1600, she examines how artists around 1600 incorporated performative practices, such as those in academies or confraternities, into their work. The project focuses on the body as a medium of aesthetic experience, while also examining network- and institution-based production processes, and emphasising intermediary, body-centred practices that connect intermediality, affect and embodiment.

Clara Nicolay has presented her research at national and international conferences, and has held positions at institutions such as the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence (Max Planck Institute) and the Bibliotheca Hertziana. In 2026, she will undertake a three-month research residency at the Medici Archive Project in Florence as an Eva Schler Fellow.

She also has professional experience in communications, having worked as a trainee at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and Sotheby's Germany. Prior to joining the University of Graz, she was a member of staff at the Art History Institute of Goethe University Frankfurt, where she was involved in teaching, higher education didactics and institute management. She focused particularly on developing digital teaching and learning formats.