Christine Mehring works on modern and contemporary art. Her research, writing, and teaching focus on abstraction, particularly the ways in which non-mimetic forms, colors, and non-traditional materials come to signify in relation to specific historical contexts; postwar European art, especially the impact of World War II and the transformation from an international art world to a global one; and the cross-overs between art and design. Mehring also analyzes photography and the relations between old and new media, including their convergences with histories and practices of abstract art. She is now at work with Lisa Zaher on an edited volume concerning Wolf Vostell’s use of concrete and the conservation of Concrete Traffic. She is also completing a book with IIT architectural historian Sean Keller on the art and architecture of the Munich Olympics, addressing their multiple significances for West German and North American cultures. Mehring is the Mary L. Block Professor in the Departments of Art History and Visual Arts at the University of Chicago and Adjunct Curator at the Smart Museum of Art.