Ästhetische Kulturen – Seminar 2: How we read. Theory as practice – practice as theory. (glv) 

What can texts tell us? Do they tell us anything, or do they rather show us what they tell us?

Angebot für

Nummer und Typmae-mtr-102.21F.004 / Moduldurchführung
ModulÄsthetische Kulturen 
VeranstalterDepartement Kulturanalysen und Vermittlung
LeitungDominque Raemy
Zeit
Di 9. März 2021 bis Di 18. Mai 2021 / 17:45–20:45 Uhr
Anzahl Teilnehmendemaximal 24
ECTS2 Credits
Voraussetzungen(E) Interest in reading theoretical texts. No prior knowledge required. Readiness to read English texts expected. Ability to read German texts recommended. Discussions will be in English, unless all participants understand German well enough.

(D) Interesse am Lesen theoretischer Texte. Keine Vorkenntnisse erforderlich. Bereitschaft englische Texte zu lesen vorausgesetzt. Fähigkeit deutsche Texte zu lesen empfohlen. Diskussionen sind auf Englisch, ausser alle Teilnehmenden verstehen Deutsch.

Für Studierende anderer Studiengänge bzw. Vertiefungen der ZHdK, im Rahmen der geöffneten Lehrveranstaltungen:
Einschreibung über ClickEnroll
https://intern.zhdk.ch/?ClickEnroll
LehrformSeminar
Zielgruppenopen course for master students of all disciplines
Lernziele / KompetenzenParticipants get to know different ways of thinking about texts.
InhalteSince antiquity, people have been occupied with the interpretation of texts. The problem of how texts should be interpreted and understood at first concerned holy scriptures and later on legal as well as literary texts. Until modernity hermeneutics, the theory of interpretation, had to assume that there is something to be understood in a text. But already Nietzsche doubted that an ultimate meaning could to be unearthed. This doubt would affect the way we read to the present day. In the post-war years, the question of the «right way» of interpreting texts was posed as a critique of power: who should have the prerogative of interpretation? The self-conception of hermeneutics was shaken. Susan Sontag spoke out «against interpretation», and Roland Barthes proclaimed the «death of the author». Finally, Jacques Derrida countered hermeneutics with the reading method of deconstruction. He and others pointed out that there is no truth to be deciphered if the symbols don’t refer to anything «beyond» the text. The medium is therefore self-referential … and it isn’t neutral. Language doesn’t allow for any uninvolved communication about the world but instead creates and changes it. With this, the perspective in dealing with texts shifts from the «what» of meaning to the «how» of sensuality. The concept of performativity lets us think of language as «medially embodied». «Linguisticality», Sybille Krämer says, «is dependent on picturality, saying is dependent on showing». If writing is thus always already performative, then it remains to be determined whether performativity can also describe a specific artistic strategy or, more generally, the art of writing. Irrespective of this question, the concept of performativity promotes a way of reading which understands that form and content are inseparable, and which searches for a moment of showing in all saying.

In this seminar we are dedicating our time to the close reading of texts that combine (media) theory and (writing) practice, texts, in other words, that show a reflection on what texts do (with us). The guiding questions for us are: what do writers do when they think writing in writing? And: what kind of reading do these texts demand from us?
Bibliographie / LiteraturA reading list will be made available at the start of the semester.
Leistungsnachweis / Testatanforderung80% attendance, active participation, preparatory reading
TermineFrühlingssemester 2021
DauerDienstag, 9.3./ 23.3./ 6.4./ 20.4./ 4.5./ 18.5, jeweils 17.45 bis 20.45 h
Bewertungsformbestanden / nicht bestanden
Bemerkung„Ästhetische Kulturen“ setzt sich im FS 2021 aus 5 modularen Lehrveranstaltungen zusammen, die auch unabhängig von einander besucht werden können. Sie finden jeweils dienstagabends (Seminar 1 bis 3), als Blockversanstaltungi (DGÄ-Konferenz mit Vorbereitungsmodul) sowie an 5 Samstagen während des Semesters (Master-Forschungskolleg) statt.
The seminar will be held in English.
Einschreibungen über ClickEnroll.
Termine (6)