Since the year 1999, around 800 lectures have taken place at the Städelschule in Frankfurt. The texts are transcripts of thirteen lectures, selected to represent the most recent history, cataloguing ideas that might otherwise be buried and forgotten. This volume is the first of a series and focuses on the diversity of artistic perspectives. It provides an insight into the Städelschules educational program and documents a variety of artistic and theoretical approaches that the school seeks to support in art and society at large. The ongoing series will continuously reflect the schools anatomy and core protagoniststhe professors, the curatorial program at Portikus, and the students. (Philippe Pirotte, Städelschule Rector)