Language – Dialog – Network. Vilém Flusser's pre-telematic thoughts (Seminar)

Anita Jóri
Language – Dialog – Network. Vilém Flusser's pre-telematic thoughts

Seminar, Deutsch/English, 2 SWS, 2 LP
Mittwochs, 10-14 Uhr, circa 14tägig, 7 Termine: 26.4., 10.5., 24.5., 7.6., 14.6., 28.6., 12.7.2017, Grunewaldstr. 2-5, Raum 208 (Vilem-Flusser-Archiv)

The utopian concept “telematic society” by the Czech cultural theorist and media philosopher Vilém Flusser (1920–1991) is considered an interesting forecast in light of the current role of network media in today’s society.
There are two distinct periods in Flusser’s work: 1) his early period in Brazil, when he developed his theories of language; and 2) his later period in Europe, focusing on media and communication theories. Even though Flusser did not write about the relationship between these periods, there are important correlations among them.
The concept of telematic society is one of the most well researched topics among European Flusser scholars. Although it was articulated in the later period of Flusser’s oeuvre, the seminar goes back to his earlier thoughts and aims to find the roots of the “telematic arguments” in his mainly linguistically driven theories from the 1950s and 1960s. Moreover, we examine other thinkers’ influences on Flusser, such as Carnap, Cassirer or Wittgenstein.
The seminar might be interesting for students who would like to widen their knowledge in early media and communication studies as well as philosophy of language and semiotics.

Leistungsanforderungen für den unbenoteten Studium-Generale-Schein: The participants are asked to read different texts for each seminar and to hold a presentation.

Anita Jóri is a research assistant at the Vilém Flusser Archive, Berlin University of the Arts (since October 1, 2016). In 2010 she finished her master studies in history, pedagogy and applied linguistics at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, HU). She is currently working on her PhD thesis entitled “The discourse community of electronic dance music”. During her studies she received different scholarships in Prague, Vilnius, and Berlin. Earlier as a research assistant at the University of Pécs (HU) and Macromedia University of Applied Sciences (Berlin), Anita Jóri took part in different research projects. Moreover, she was a lecturer in media studies (2013–16) of the study program “Communication in Social and Economic Contexts” (seminar title: “Visual and Artifact Analysis through the example of Electronic Music“) at the Berlin University of the Arts. She gained her first work experience at the Vilém Flusser Archive as a scholarship holder of “Erasmus+” (2011/2012), later as a project coordinator of the "Vilém Flusser Residency for Artistic Research" in cooperation with "transmediale“, festival for art and digital culture (Berlin). As a linguist, she is interested in Flusser’s early works on language and language philosophy, in particular his structural (intercultural) analysis of languages and language families.