Luiz Zanotello
Critical Media: Matters of Thinking
Seminar, English, 4 SWS, 4 ECTS, 5 places
Notice: 2 ECTS can be obtained within the framework of the Studium Generale and a further 2 ECTS can be obtained within the framework of a free elective.
Kick-off: Tuesday, 19.4.2022, 16:45-18:15 h,
Thursdays, 10-14 h, weekly, starts 28.4.2022, Grunewaldstr. 2-5, room 112
Register until 18.4.2022 via email, stating your name, study course and if available, a link to your work: luiz.zanotello_ @udk-berlin.de.

“It matters what we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” (Haraway, 2016)

As artists and designers we are confronted daily with the translation of what we imagine with what is materialized through our practice. Often both realms collide into one single process of research, where thinking takes shape, uncannily, both within our minds and within the matters we touch with our hands. This setting is evermore generative if we consider the field of new media, which par excellence, concerns itself with the creation and
critical reflection of new technologies of communicating, feeling and sensing the unknown present and future. But how can the matters of our own thinking translate, negotiate and modulate the matters in our hands? When it comes to art, design, and technology, how does the "new" emerge and take shape?

The course will act as a playground for experimentation and critical reflection. During the semester, you will be asked to iterate weekly on the development of a project either initiated within its scope, or from within your Fachklassse. On the one hand, this will happen in practice by means of artistic/technical experiments and prototypes; and on the other hand, by means of writing and reflecting on what you do. We will get in touch with a few key examples and texts on design/artistic research as well as on media theory in order to infuse and widen how you think of your own work. During our weekly meetings we will collectively discuss your work - technically, artistically and conceptually - with a strong focus on your own process of discovery and generation of novelty through the technologies at your hands.

Students from all courses are welcome to attend, including through Studium Generale. The practice-and-theory course is able to award credits in theory or practice depending on the outcome of the seminar (paper or finalized project).

Leistungsanforderungen: regelmäßige, aktive Teilnahme, Entwicklung von Prototypen/Experimenten.

Luiz Zanotello (1986 Jundiaí, Brazil) is a media artist, researcher, and educator based in Berlin. In his artistic research practice, he appropriates technologies to reveal material-discursive phenomena underlying the contemporary condition. In the past, he has exhibited and given talks at festivals, galleries, and institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb (HR), Museum of Applied Arts Vienna (AT), and Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro (BR). He holds a BA degree from the São Paulo State University (BR) and an MA degree from the University of the Arts Bremen. He is currently an Assistant Professor for New Media at the Berlin University of the Arts (DE), as well as a guest lecturer and research fellow at the University of the Arts Bremen (DE) and a PhD Candidate in Artistic Research at Leiden University.