The starting point of this seminar is the belief that observations as well as observational attitudes influence our thinking and acting in humanities and design – and that the awareness of their importance has to be strengthened. For the Chicago School of Sociology, observing society involved an almost complete merging with the object, an active entering into the world of the observed. Parallel to this is the empathetic outsiderism of the late flaneurs (Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer, Franz Hessel), which leads to a complex situation of inside and outside.
The seminar focuses on urban observation in the interplay between mimicry, mimesis and distance. In addition to the cultural and socio-theoretical reflection of this conflict, it is also important to take a probing look at one’s own observation practice and to examine it via positions from ethnography, philosophy, sociology, literature, art, design and urban planning.
Kick-off: Wed., 5.4.2023, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (online)
Block 1: Fri., 21./Sat., 22.4.2023, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (room 245)
Block 2: Fri., 05./Sat., 6.5.2023, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (room 245)
Conclusion: vsl. 7.6.2023, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (online)