Interdisciplinary Lecture Series of the cx centre for interdisciplinary studies
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
winter term 2014/15
The times of utopias seems to have passed. Already since the 1980s we constantly hear of the end of the ‘grand narratives’. The subsequent enthusiasm for heterogeneity and plurality meanwhile devolved into a condition of fatigue, which in all its repetitions and nostalgias blocks the view of the future. But what is the „present of the future“ today?
The third annual theme oft he cx centre for interdisciplinary studies asks, which means and strategies artists and scholars pursue today, to gain a radius of operation which rises from the conditions we are faced with – without falling into nostalgic utopianisms or apocalyptic sensationalisms. How do different disciplines create potentials for change, for the imagination of possible futures beyond modernistic idealisms and romanticist projections? How can they contend for new freedoms within the configuration of our tomorrows, beyond the present routines and determinations? Contemporary answers to those questions range from the openness of experimental systems and the inclusion of contingency into scientific proceedings to speculative and fictive approaches in philosophy, art and design.
Tuesday 4 November 2014, 7:00 pm, auditorium in the annex building
Bad Prospects ?
Wolfgang Lucht, Chair in Sustainability Science and Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Humboldt University Berlin
Andri Snær Magnason, writer, Reykjavík
Wednesday 19 November 2014, 7:00 pm, Historical auditorium in the old building
Techniques of Survival
Claudia Aradau, Reader in International Politics, King’s College London
Metahaven (Daniel van der Velden), studio for design and research, Amsterdam
Tuesday 2 December 2014, 7:00 pm, Historical auditorium in the old building
Experimenting the Future
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and honorary professor at the Institute for Philosophy and History of Science of the Technical University Berlin
Jan St. Werner, composer and musician, Berlin
Tuesday 16 December 2014, 7:00 pm, Historical auditorium in the old building
Occupying the Future
Frédéric Neyrat, Lecturer in Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tuesday 13 January 2015, 7:00 pm, auditorium in the annex building
Calculating with contingency
Elena Esposito, Professor for Sociology of Communication, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Nora Schultz, artist, New York / Berlin
Tuesday 20 January 2015, 7:00 pm, Historical auditorium in the old building
Fictions of the Future
Liam Young, speculative architect, Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today/Unknown Fields Division, London
Wednesday 28. January 2015, 7:00 pm, auditorium in the annex building
Futur(e) Human
Karin Harrasser, Professor for Cultural Studies, Kunstuniversität Linz
Johannes Paul Raether, artist, Berlin
A moderated discussion will take place subsequent to each lecture. The lectures will be held in German or English. A publication with all contributions to the lecture series is being planned.
The lecture series has been organized by Susanne Witzgall, head of programme, and Kerstin Stakemeier, Juniorprofessor for media theory and visual studies, in cooperation with Karianne Fogelberg research fellow for design and architecture theory.
The programme of the cx centre for interdisciplinary studies is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
