Crisis of Reality
A Lecture Series on Key Works of Art
Public Lecture Series at Zeppelin University
Organized by Prof. Dr. Karen van den Berg (Chair of Art Theory & Curating) and Prof. Dr. Jan Söffner (Chair of Cultural Theory & Analysis)
Crises of reality have often been proclaimed - by the avant-gardes of modernity, by the existentialists, by postmodernism and its radical constructivisms and deconstructions. Yet these were crises proclaimed by the respective movement itself, in most cases even desired: They were crises that testified more to the power and dominance of the realisms of their time. At present, however, the theoretical debates ranging from New Realism to Speculative Realism refer more to the desire to preserve the concept of reality as such. That this is necessary has to do with another crisis, this time not proclaimed but found.
In literature, film, theatre and the fine arts, it is therefore no coincidence that a new realism is currently emerging, a realism that differs from its predecessors in many respects. For since "post-truth" has been talked about and virtual realities have become part of everyday life, the question arises anew of how a concept of reality can be gained that is suitable as a social foundation and is not arbitrarily stretchable. This concern has taken on a new urgency at a time when politics is made with fake news.
Since the arts have always cultivated their own relationship to reality and have always conceived of the fictitious and the possible, they are particularly suited to making different concepts of reality observable. In the arts, not only is perception itself made tangible, but the relationship to reality is also explored in its own way. In doing so, a distance to the world becomes perceptible, breaks in reality become perceptible or, through hyper-realistic scenarios, immersive intensifications of the experience of reality are evoked.
With their different realisms, the arts used to maintain their own relationship to reality. They therefore seem particularly suited to making crises in reality observable, perceptible and describable.
Against this background, experts from the fields of art, music, film and literature presented key works by female artists, writers and filmmakers in the lecture series, which problematize the understanding of reality in their time.
1. Photo: Drawing by Dan Perjovschi | Karen van den Berg
2. Photo: Lecture Series by Dr. Susanne Schmetkamp | Karen van den Berg
Events in Detail
- 30. January 2018 : „Wir sind nie real gewesen. Wirklichkeit, Gleichnis und Proceß“
mit Prof. Dr. Jan Söffner
- 6. February 2018 : „Simulationskrisen. Zum Werk von Harun Farocki“ mit Ina Neddermeyer, Leiterin der Abteilung Kunst im Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen
- 13. February 2018 : „Lachend die Wahrheit...? Das Wirklichkeitsverständnis der Satire“ mit Dr. Joachim Landkammer, Lehrstuhl für Kunsttheorie und Inszenatorische Praxis an der ZU
Zum Podcast
- 20. February 2018: „Realität in Serie“ mit Dr. Susanne Schmetkamp von der Universität Basel
Zum Podcast
- 27. February 2018: „Yngve Holen. Die Realität des Begehrens“ mit Dr. Philipp Kleinmichel, Lehrstuhl für Kunsttheorie und Inszenatorische Praxis an der ZU
- 6. March 2018: „Stimmungsräume. Welterzeugung und Realitätserfahrung in der Kunst“ mit Prof. Dr. Kerstin Thomas von der Universität Stuttgart
Zum Podcast
- 14. March 2018: „,…wie die Schranken, welche die Gaukler vor den Zuschauern sich erbauen‘. Zu einer Realitätsreflexion des Computerspiels“ mit Prof. Dr. Thomas Hensel von der Hochschule Pforzheim
Zum Podcast
- 20. March 2018: „Wahrnehmungen in der Dunkelheit. Über Wolfgang Hilbig“ mit Prof. Dr. Maren Lehmann, Lehrstuhl für Soziologische Theorie an der ZU
Zum Podcast
- 10. April 2018: „Die Möglichste aller schlechten Welten. The Good Place, Moralphilosophie und die Frage nach der Realität“ mit Prof. Dr. Adrian Daub von der Stanford University
- 17. April 2018: „Geteilte Wahrheit. Fakt und Fiktion in der Arbeit von Robert Smithson“ mit Prof. Dr. Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen von der Universität Bozen
Zum Podcast
- 24. April 2018: „Realität in der Renaissance und die Renaissance der Realität“ mit Prof. Dr. Karen van den Berg, Lehrstuhl für Kunsttheorie und Inszenatorische Praxis an der ZU
- 8. May 2018: „Die Idee des Realismus“ mit Prof. Dr. Helmut Draxler von der Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien
Zum Podcast