In globalized networks, the ability to join groups and systems and to act within their logics is considered an essential prerequisite for participation. In contrast, the seminar is concerned with the “other side” of connecting operations in the networks of media, society, economy, politics, and culture. It questions the interruptions, frictions and conflicts that accompany the common practices of networking and connecting, their consequences for affected actors, but also their potentials for shaping future living environments. We will analyze cultural, social, medial, spatial and urban practices of connection and exclusion. Central questions are, for example, which urban mediation and displacement processes are triggered by global digital platforms, or to what extent networked communication creates new political public spheres and spaces.
The seminar is a joint course of the University of Cologne, the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and the KISD of the TH Köln. It is aimed at the 11 fellows of the Research Training Group “connecting – excluding”, funded by DFG. Participating disciplines are art, design, media and cultural studies, ethnology, and cultural comparative studies.
Meetings: 27.10.2023 / 24.11.2023 / 15.12.2023 / 19.01.2024, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m.
Locations:
Universität zu Köln, Raum 3.A06 („Skyfall“), 3. OG, Aachener Str. 217, 50931 Köln