Three days after the terror attacks in Paris, four days after the massacer which the suicide bombers caused in Beirut, in the middle of the biggest refugee track through Europe since World War II, during an evil war in Syria and daily terror in Israel, Iraq and so many other places since decades: I still feel speechless and deeply sad. On the contrary to so many politicians and demagogues and their immediate response to the terror attacks. All over the planet they seem to know the answers right away and cannot wait to spread their verbal build-up of arms via any channel of communication. But their hatred and racism, their cry for war and revenge is no answer. It never was and it never will be.
Archiv der Kategorie: Politics / Activism
Tribunal & Clouds: GLOBALE @ ZKM
The Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) Karlsruhe has opened again after several months of restoration. Within the next 300 days the festival GLOBALE will take place in the former ordnance factory: Many different exhibitions and symposia around the two main topics Infosphere and Exo-Evolution are in the making.
The guided tour through the two clouds – symbolizing Infosphere and Exo-Evolution – which Peter Weibel, manager of the ZKM and media artist, gave to me in advance for Deutschlandradio Kultur can be found here.
Aliens, UFOs & Earthlings
Today the result of intensive research in the last weeks and months goes on air and online: My 28 minutes long radio feature „Von Aliens, UFOs und Erdlingen – Zur Kulturgeschichte der Außerirdischen“ will be broadcasted by the Swiss public radio station SRF 2 Kultur, afterwards being available as a podcast.
This production was only possible thanks to wonderful reasearchers like film scholar Simon Spiegel, astrophysicist Ben Moore, literature scholars Robert Stockhammer, Hania Siebenpfeiffer and Philipp Theisohn, ethnologist Alice Spinnler and numerous aliens. They are all featured in the show.
A big thanks also goes to all the others who helped and inspired my work along the way and openend my eyes for so many incredible creatures in and aspects of this universe. These selenites of The Great Moon Hoax from 1835 (see pic the right) are only one example.
A very special thanks goes to Philipp Theisohn and his team at the Swiss national research project „Conditio extraterrestris. The Inhabitated Galaxy as the Space of Literary Imagination and Communication (1600 – 2000)“ at the German Department of the University of Zurich.
Their amazing research projects probably bore me out the most that humankind is once again changing its sense of self and that we have to think and talk about it. Therefore I also portrayed Conditio extraterrestris additionally in a seperate article and broadcast.
Remember
25 years ago we skipped school and climbed on the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate. From up there we were looking down at armed GDR soldiers who didn´t know anymore what to do. One day before they still had the order to shoot anybody from the East who wanted to climb over the wall to the West. And now everyone from the East was allowed to cross the boarder freely and we, the people from the West, were climbing up on the wall to celebrate freedom and the end of a dictatorship, to celebrate the success of the resistance movement and to welcome the people of the East. Very poignant memories.
Today there are still many walls in this world existing, separating and excluding people, between Palestine and Israel, between Mexico and the USA, last but not least on the outer boarders of the EU between Africa and Europe.
Bugs & Beasts & Beast: My first scientific publication on Hörspiel – in Portuguese.
I am very happy to announce, that my article „RUÍDO, PEÇA SONORA, RÁDIO EXTENDIDO“ just has been published by Polêm!ca Revista Eletrônica, the online-journal of the State University of Rio de Janero (UERJ). It is the extended version of a case study about the Hörspiel (radio play) „Bugs & Beats & Beasts“ by Andreas Ammer and Console, that I presented in September 2013 at the conferences „Noises of Art“ and „Radio Research 2013“ in GB. This Hörspiel plays an important role for the argumentation of my PhD thesis. My very special gratitude goes to Mauro José Sá Rego Costa, professor at the UERJ with special expertise in radio and media art: Mauro, thank you so much for your enthusiasm, your support and especially all the effort you went through in translating this! Bssssssssh.
Enjoy reading – and listening! I would be delighted to recieve some feedback about my ideas from Brazil – and everybody who understands Portuguese. But please, write in English to me!
Art under Mass Surveillance
„We may not abandon the place“ and „Never let them stop you from working“. These are the two most important advices, Julian Assange gave to the audience, when speaking via Skype from his room in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for one hour to the about 100 people at the Helmhaus in Zurich in the evening of the 8th of March 2014.