Alex Head
States of Transition & Transmission
Seminar, English, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Tuesdays, 14-18 h, 7 dates: 27.10., 10.11., 24.11., 8.12.2026, 12.1., 26.1., 9.2.2027, Hardenbergstr. 33, room 151
Plus two extra dates for live radio sessions: Wednesdays, 20.1.2027, 14-15 h & 3.2.2027, 17-18 h: Studio Ansage, Kreutzigerstraße 23, 10247 Berlin

Anmeldung auf Moodle ab / Registration on Moodle begins 12.10.2026: https://moodle.udk-berlin.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=3327
Einschreibeschlüssel / Enrollment Key: transition

Participants will be introduced to systems thinking as an artistic and philosophical approach. Outcomes will be broadcast as live radio. Reflecting on states of transition, whether describing physics, the human body, an economy, a nation state or otherwise, requires a systems approach. The course draws on a wide range of practitioners to argue that artistic expression benefits from systemic, networked, or collaborative methods. Systems thinking is a tool for developing empathy, multi-perspective and transdisciplinary approaches. In real terms, systems thinking requires the development of new languages. As an artistic process this means active and close listening practices, re-framing intuitive understandings and clearly articulating findings and ideas. Together we will broadcast new knowledge into the world on live DAB radio. We will closely discuss the work of philosopher Manual DeLanda, filmmaker David Lynch, feminist author Elizabeth Fisher, anarchist activist Emma Goldman, anthropologists David Graeber and David Wengrow, Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy and artist Robert Smithson. Grounded in comparative cultural anthropologies we will collectively identify the way personalities and discourse today, shape the reality of tomorrow. The course is of interest to those open to approaching problem solving from multiple perspectives when debating whether to embrace or reject the future. The final session of the course will take place in collaboration with Studio Ansage, at their location in Friederichshain: Kreutzigerstraße 23, 10247 Berlin. There, we will be able to take advantage of the radio studio and broadcast live to DAB radio on 7D Berlin, 12D Brandenburg, (and globally via the parallel broadcasting stream online of Studio Ansage, Berlin).

Leistungsanforderungen für den unbenoteten Schein / Fulfilment criteria for ungraded accreditation: Students will be required to complete the reading and listening assignments and to discuss them together. They will also prepare material for broadcast as well as submit findings from the live radio broadcast. 80% attendance of the course is required.

Artist Alex Head is interested in working with non-hierarchical networks of artists, researchers and citizens. He founded sub_ʇxǝʇ radio (2017), Co-Founded Wasteland Twinning Network which hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in order to generate a network for parallel research and action (2011), and Plural Studio (2022). He holds a BA (hons) in Sculpture & Environmental Art at The Glasgow School of Art (2007), Pratt University, New York (2005). He holds an MA in Raumstrategien at Weißensee School of Art (2016). He has given guest lectures at Humboldt University (2017), Centre for Theoretical Studies, Prague (2022), and TU-Darmstadt (2025). His books are Here Comes Trouble, ZK/U Press (2016), RICOCHET, Ljå Forlag (2021), 1001 Accurate Memories, Plural Studio (2025).