Important: The course "Architecture of Light I" by Maurício Ianês can only be taken in combination with "Architecture of Light I" by Stefan-Manuel Eggenweber. Please register for both courses. Both courses run over the winter semester and are held partly in German, partly in English.

“Architecture of Light I” in winter semester 2021/22 will be continued in the summer semester 2022 with “Architecture of Light II”.

Who is seen, who is not? How can action be taken out of the darkness? Can this twisted, fragmented construction of a Capitalist society, with a developing basis on virtual spaces of relation, still be deconstructed? What is the play of different ideologies within society and they reverberation on cultural practices? Can strategies developed out of Capitalism be used against it or should them be completely dismantled as a system? 
Over the course of 2 semesters, “Architecture of Light I & II” deals with the political concepts of propaganda and populism and how the arts were used by different ideological standpoints as a tool for disseminating their ideas.
  Trump, Bolsonaro, Johnson, Kurz, Kickl – In recent years, even before the Corona pandemic started, the large-scale manipulation of opinions and truths by media and social networks has gained a new level of visibility on an international and national level. These strategies have long roots on other historical contexts. The awareness of these manipulative strategies has not diminished their success. The division, actually fragmentation, of public opinion, the agitation against marginalised groups of people, the glorification of fanatical leadership, conspiracy myths and lies as a socially accepted political strategy have become part of our globally entangled everyday life. On the other hand, cultural propaganda has also been used as a tool by marginalised and exploited groups in different ways. Propaganda and populism infuse our experience of the world, in pop culture, art, architecture, cinema and other mediums.
 In addition to their meaning, history and application in the present, also in relation to hierarchies and interactions between the global North and global South, the seminar-series "Architecture of Light I & II" will also discuss possible potentials that these strategies can have for a left and/or artistic appropriation in contemporary contexts. A focus will be on performative practices in film, video art, performance and installation, with practical experiments by the students in all mediums. In addition to the practical application of light, the question of illumination and visibility, the construction and use of light is also posed on a metaphorical level. Who is in the limelight, who acts from the penumbra, who remains in the dark? How are schemes of repression created and repeated through visibility or the lack of it? And finally, how far do I dare to step into the spotlight of populism?
 The aim of the course is to create art works in different mediums that take up, negotiate, circle around or confront these or related questions and finally present them in an exhibition on the topic at the end of the summer semester 2022.

Examination will be made through the presentation and discussion of practical works, dialectically confronted to historical facts and theories, as well as participation in class discussions.

Important: The course "Architecture of Light I" by Maurício Ianês can only be taken in combination with "Architecture of Light I" by Stefan-Manuel Eggenweber. Please register for both courses. Both courses run over the winter semester and are held partly in German, partly in English. “Architecture of Light I” in winter semester 2021/22 will be continued in the summer semester 2022 with “Architecture of Light II”.