Tension appears in many contexts and carries diverse meanings. It tends

to be viewed as something to be avoided and reduced in politics; to be

explained, worked through, and resolved in therapy or science; to be

endured and sustained in modern art; or to be sought after and enjoyed in

popular culture. This volume brings together contributions from several

academic and artistic fields in order to question the self-evidence of the

deceptively simple term ‘tension’ and explore the possibility of productive

transfers among different forms und understandings of tension.

Christoph F. E. Holzhey is the founding director of the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry and holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Princeton University as well as a Ph.D. in German Literature from Columbia University.