The
Series:Toward an Integral
Theory of Media
A platform for subjects-comprehensive project-work (media theorie and practice)
The internet colloquium ”Toward an Integral Theory of Media“
and the platform „Diskurs: M.E.D.I.E.N.“ linked with it, offers
to students of different Berlin-Brandenburg universities the opportunity
for project work and for a subject comprehensive discourse. We address on
one hand students and teaching personal on faculties with rather theoretical
target objective (media theory and science, art and cultural history, theatre
science, sociology, cultural science, musicology, educational theory etc.)
and on the other hand students and teaching personal of courses of studies
with rather practical orientation (drama, design, journalism, computer science,
cultural management, film and especially students of colleges of art and
of music).
Starting
point of the discourse, and of the projects originate from out of it,
is the question to what extent media theory could help to describe the
current society, and to develop active instruments of exploration and
intervention. From the discourse, experimental media theoretical and practical
formats originate. These formats which receive their logic out of their
way of production and which usually owe their material to the dialog are
methodically justified forms of media use. Results and interim results
of the projects are presented in free radio stations, on the project page
of the internet platform, or in arrangements and installations in different
places. Every form of distribution will be accompanied by a form of production.
The internet colloquium consists of (a.) a mailing list,
(b.) the internet platform KESHMA.NET, on which different forms of cooperation
are explored and results are published, and (c.) live acts, in which the
categorical difference between actor and audience, between producer and
recipient, between producer and the one who enjoys doesn’t exist.
In addition we want to provide a structure in which different persons
may lead autonomous projects which are linked by contents and method.
The arrangement is designed as being continued. Every single
colloquium series has its own title and is meant to focus on some few
approaches and topics. In this way we will try to create variations of
scientific communication and to loosen conventional fixations (the way
scientific communication has to look like and in general does). To the
breaking with conventions goes the experimental use of media, meeting
in rather unfamiliar and not academic places, integration of not academic
thinkers and practicians, self arrangements and possibly also illegal
actions in public or half public space.
If you want to participate you have to register
for the colloquium. You either register yourself here
or you send an e-mail with the reference "Toward an Integral
Theory of Media" to neue.methode<AT>kein.org.
In cooperation with
the formatLabor, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Humboldt Universität
zu Berlin, the Universität der Künste and the Kulturserver der
Länder.
:Discourse
Via mailing-list you may write commentaries or send pdfs. Some of them
we put on the site >texts. In addition to that we will provide the
preconditions for the origination of a Wiki.
: Theory& Practice
What kind of practice we will develop shall depend on the discourse. The
following questions might serve as a starting point: In what way discourses
are provoked? In what way are they facilitated? Interview techniques,
medial differentiation of the difference interaction-presence-speaking
/ no interaction-absence-writing. Which role medial arrangements can play?
: Starting
point
Our thesis is that it is less about to develop increasingly advanced technique
but about using the existent technical possibilities in other ways and
to find those points where conventions and traditional formats prevents
us from ceasing the chances of the present. With breakings created in
an operative way, with the installation of rules of the game, with decisions
for an unusual use of media, with transfer of structures, ways of working
and proportions from one medium to an other, with new combination of aesthetic
and semantic dimension, with experimental adressing
and so on the space of possibility which lies in the difference between
the potential of the physical medium on one hand and its use on the other
hand, shall be explored theoretically and practically. In order to explore
this space of difference on one hand technical and practical knowledge
(for not only knowing but also being able to use the possibilities of
the physical medium) and on the other hand analysis of the formats
and their compelling attractiveness is needed.
The
conciousness of one’s self is “an und für sich”
whilst and thereby that it is for an other “an und für sich”;
that means it exists only as acknowledged.. Hegel,
The Phenomenology of Mind
One of the results of the first three semesters consists
of the internet site. The introductory event in the media theatre of the
Humboldt-Universität was video filmed by participants of the colloquium,
it was cut and put on the site. Different projects originated: (1) The
publication project “Media theory - what for?”, (2) a concept
for the construction of an internet platform “Discourse M.E.D.I.E.N“
with lectures and interviews to the topic Media & Emancipation and
(3) the sound installation “Ja”, which could be heard for
three months starting November 17, 2005, in the Gemäldegalerie (Kulturforum).
The installation is one part of the series “In-KLO-sion / Exklusion.
Over and above that it is made possible to the participants of the colloquium
to join working on radio emissions, which are broadcasted in different
free radio stations. Any form of design, moderation or arrangement of
the discourse which takes place between the participants of the colloquium
may become a starting point for a project.
What
is an int internet colloquium? Internet colloquia –
what for? Whom for are internet colloquia?
+ + [TEXT]
(pdf) + +
The
current internet colloquium WS 06/07
Toward
an Integral Theory of Media VI: Communication. Media. Power.
In this seminar the attempt is made to explore the possible consequences
of the new media for the communication in the society and the types of
power which dominates them.
Jens Friedrich, Till Nikolaus von Heiseler
Every Thursdays 14-16 o’clock, Start October 5, 2006, Garystraße
55, room 323.
Toward
an Integral Theory of Media V:
What a Medium be...
The
question what a medium be asks for the nature and the being of the medium.
We see this question – like all ontological questions – as
inanswerable. But possibly the question what a medium be might be fruitful
in a performative way exactly for the reason that it contains the whole
power of the ontology; the person asked in this way is forced to talk
about himself and his position. First of all he has to wriggle out of
this trap to any side. To be distinguished: the medium itself - what ever
it might be – and the strategy of emergence.
The Colloquium asks the question for the medium from different sides and
tries to work out different positions. The basis of the colloquium is
the lectures taped in December 2005 at the conference “What
is a medium?” of the Stiftung Weimarer Klassik.
Leistungsscheine/ achievement certificates may be acquired by following
achievements:
Analysis of the content and the form of a lecture or the
comparison of two points of view (lectures). The analysis of ONE lecture
is more demanding because no references are given and the student has
to be in some way familiar with the theoretical references of the lecturer.
In case you choose the comparison you will have to explicate the comparison
criterion and to give reasons for the target and the interest why you
have chosen it. The text should comprehend between six and twelve pages
and include an abstract by the student OF THE ORIGINAL LECTURE. An abstract
of the own work shall be put at the beginning.
Leaders: Bernd Ternes und Till Nikolaus von Heiseler
:
Conditions for participation
From
left to right: Benjamin Heidersberger, Lara Daniela Schiffer, Till Nikolaus
von Heiseler, Mari Cantu, Sarah bat Naomi, Gusztáv Hámos,
Bernd Ternes (Haus der Kulturen der Welt)
The colloquium is open for all interested persons. It only
provides opportunities and therefore the initiative of the participants
is needed. The colloquium is not apt for persons who “want to be
motivated”.
Certificates can be issued in case of appropriate achievement for the
department of sociology by the Freie Universität and for media science
by the Humbold Universität.
For students of corresponding subjects over and above the possibility
exists at his or her university, in arrangement with a lecturer, to produce
a work in the format of Media
for one and put it up for discussion on our site.
Meetings in academic and not academic places can be proposed
by the participants of the colloquium. The guidance may have every time
some other participant.
There is no obligation to attend because it is an internet
colloquium. That is why certificates can only be given for active participation.
:
La Société du Spectacle by Guy Debord At the opening event on April 15, 2005
we watched the film "La Société du Spectacle"
by Guy Debord (France 1973, 100 min).
"Reality
considered partially deploys itself in its own general unit as a pseudo-world
apart, an object only of con templation."
„It is a society,“ Janus von Abaton writes
about Debord, „and not the technology which has made the cinema
what it is. The cinema could have been a historical investigation, it
could have been abstract, essayistic and cruel and then could have taken
over the role of tragedy of the ancient world in order to convey the abstract
thinking that is needed to understand a type of state which is constructed
on abstraction. Out of the cinema now [with the given standard of technique
(?)] something could originate what will do justice to this task.”
The 1973 originated film »La Société
du Spectacle« by Guy Debord exhibits consequent aesthetics of material
and opens audio-visuality beyond harmlessness.
08|11|2005 - 20:15 - TESLA - Berlin
Klosterstraße 69-70 - U2 - Klosterstraße
The formatLabor develops and puts to the test new forms
of media use and of communication and reflects their possible effects
in society.
In the formatLabor it is not about developing new formats for mass media
neither alone is it about creating artistic advanced forms. Target is
rather to form in a methodically reflected and open way that new originating
area of “medially backed up public”, where social togetherness
and cultural production coincide (in Clubs, Mailinglisten, alternative
video projects, free radio stations etc.). [more]
Summer semester 05
:
Evolution & Practice
Toward an Integral Theory of Media III
main course| basic studies
The colloquium is about the question how far media theory is able to help
to describe today’s society, and to develop tools of exploration
and intervention. For this purpose a discourse between media theorists,
system theorists, media activists and media artists is suggested in which
the colloquium participants may participate.
The colloquium enters into different
discourses now taking place and includes a theoretical and a practical
part:
In the theoretical part we discuss "Archäologie des Wissens"
(archaeology of knowledge) by Michel Foucault and start looking for the
latent medial construction principle of the discourse.
In the practical part different tools of collaboration (Mailingliste,
Wiki etc.) are presented and made use of and the question is asked if
and how it is possible to suggest a temporary discourse in the internet.
On April 15, 2005 the opening event
of our internet colloquium took place in the media theatre of the Humbold-Universität
zu Berlin.
Alexander
Roesler | Stefan Münker What is a Medium?
- Interdisciplinary conference -
Kolleg Friedrich Nietzsche / Weimar
Friday December 16 - Sunday 18, 2005 [more]
:
Technical requirements We recommend the use of a browser program, which
supports web standards, and therefore we advise against Microsoft
Internet Explorer. We recommend instead the downloading and the
installation of the open source web browser Mozilla
Firefox, which works better and quicker and has less
security gaps.
For all audio tracks we use exclusively the
open source format Ogg
Vorbis. If you want to participate in the internet colloquium,
please download both programs free of charge. If you meet technical
difficulties please write us an e-mail.
We thank the Humboldt
Universität, the Freie Universität Berlin and the Neue Universität
Berlin for their friendly support and the Hauptstadtkulturfonds for the
partly funding of the project’s preparation.
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:
What for Media Theory?
Wolfgang Ernst / Till Nikolaus von Heiseler
"There
are indeed two consequences of the post modern aesthetics: Some say: away
from the large ideological narrations, (...) direction to the micro-narrations
where everybody him or herself may be the author, but in the end continues
following the aesthetics of the narration as an instance for giving meaning.
The alternative to that is saying: the need for narration is not an anthropological
one but always already an insinuation of power, which always seeks to
whisper to us, there has to be an order. There has to be a narrative order.
Even when you produce the narration by yourselves (...) you have already
submitted to an order! That is the interest of power." (Wolfgang
Ernst)
: What for
Emanzipation? E-mail
to my friend Gusztáv Hámos
To understand emancipation as something in process: as
deconstruction of dominance. Depending on how dominance is understood,
this leads to different conceptions of emancipation. In the text two emancipation
models are distinguished. One is based on redistribution, the other one
on appreciation. + + [text]*
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-+ -
: What means
Epistemology? Wolfgang
Hagen explains the concept epistemology
in regard to Michel Foucault’s "Archaeology of Knowledge".
By doing that he distinguishes clearly epistemology from theory of knowledge,
which always remains bound to the philosophy of the subject.
Erfolgsmedien
(media of success) Dirk
Baecker explains the concept of symbolically generalized communication
media. The concept derives from the system theory of Niklas Luhmanns (1927-
1998) and signifies the self generating conditions of statements on the
level of societal meaning generalizing. An observer of a social system
can observe with the help of this concept the observed social system against
the background of the distinction capable for connection/uncapable for
connection. Luhmann understands the symbolically generalized communication
medium by the result of the social evolution and by this as a result of
a self referential societal process which makes probable something what
at first sight is improbable. Contingence in the beginning is reconstructed
in the contingent social evolution process in expectation- probabilities.
Volker
Grassmuck :
Free Software for Children, 4 min + [AUDIO]+ 3 min, 3MB + +[VIDEO]8MB
: The history of the Free Software Movement, 10 min +[AUDIO]
+ 8 min, 8MB + +[VIDEO] 18MB
: What is Free Software?, 9 min + [AUDIO]+ 7 min, 7MB
+ + [VIDEO]
15MB
- + - -+ - -+ - - + - -+ -
-+ -
: The Overheard Not
all what should emancipate itself belongs to a minority. Because besides
the ideal measure of the majority and the anti measure of the minority
there is that what not yet has build a category. In the search of that
what lies beyond the category, epistemology and emancipation converge.
+ [pdf]*
- + - -+ - -+ - - + - -+ - -+ -
: Prelude for
"Gespräch
+
+ + ohne Titel" Pit Schultz
and Till Nikolaus von Heiseler are waiting for Dirk Baecker and
meanwhile they are talking... [pdf]
: What
do we understand by an archives?
Wolfgang Ernst explains
the concept archives on one hand in a traditional way as ”intern
legally binding memory of the state” and on the other hand
in the sense of Michel Foucault as “the law of what can
be said, the system that dominates the appearance of statements
as single occurences." (vgl. Archäologie des Wissens,
F.a.M. 1973, p.187.)
Wolfgang Ernst To
the concept of time-critical Time-critical processes take place on the basal
level of the medium in the case that the necessary distinction on the
operational level of media are based on time. Digital manufacturing is
necessarily time-critical because without a dimension of time it could
always transport one bit. Time-critical on this level means therefore
a form of signal-encode. + +[audio]*
12 min, 10MB + +
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Theatre as
a network?
Detlev Schneider, Matthias Lilienthal, Till Nikolaus von Heiseler and
Florian Schneider in conversation. Detlev
Schneider Intendant of ITB (Imaginäres Theater Berlin) and artistic
director of TESLA
in Podewils'schen Palais and Matthias Lilienthal, artistical director
of HAU
1, HAU 2 und HAU 3, are talking about the question, if and how theatre
could work as a network. Startingpoints are the clarification of the concept
network and regarding the theatre against the horizon of its history,
its function and its concrete working. +
+ [audio] + 13 min, 12 MB + + Excerpt
of the conversation [pdf]*
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-+ -
What
for Media Theory? "What for Media Theory" is a collective writing
project where new forms of scientific collaboration are put to the test.
At the moment we are getting in conversation with editors. [more]
Loops repeat themselves
endlessly. Material of these repetitions are fragments and rubbish. The
discourse moves around the contents of freedom of movement and freedom
of communication, inferiority and self reflection. [more]
Dirk
Baecker explains the concept of symbolically generalized communication
media. The concept derives from the system theory of Niklas Luhmanns (1927-
1998) and signifies the self generating conditions of statements on the
level of societal meaning generalizing. An observer of a social system
can observe with the help of this concept the observed social system against
the background of the distinction capable for connection/uncapable for
connection. Luhmann understands the symbolically generalized communication
medium by the result of the social evolution and by this as a result of
a self referential societal process which makes probable something what
at first sight is improbable. Contingence in the beginning is reconstructed
in the contingent social evolution process in expectation- probabilities.
:
Free Software for Children, 4 min
