Forms of hybrid cohabitation between human and non-human have increasingly become the focus of artistic work and thought in recent years. Contemporary exhibitions create hybrid micro-ecologies in which, for example (to take Pierre Huyghe's "After Alife Ahead" as an example), the humidity in the room, a swarm of bees, the reproductive cycles of a cancer cell, an app on the cell phones of human visitors are coordinated with each other. In such works, the body serves as an interface between subjective experience, social inscription and technoscientific networking.

The hybrid worlds of algae and algorithms, techno-shamans and cyborgs are more than just the "next hot topic". Artistic ecologies and hybrid body practices respond to the reality of life in our generation, which is characterized by increasingly crisis-ridden digital, logistic and ecological networks. In addition to algorithmic control regimes that intervene deeply in our physical, affective and cognitive lives, the ecological crisis we are confronted with is "so obvious that it becomes easy - for some, strangely or frighteningly easy - to join the dots and see that everything is interconnected" (Timothy Morton). Artistic works attempt not so much to question concepts of nature, life and matter, but to bring natural and living processes into play in their own irony, queerness and inscrutability. Polemically formulated: Nature itself is far too deconstructive to be deconstructed by us.

In this seminar, we want to take a closer look at the understandings of nature that are at work here. The focus will be on Karen Barad's influential book "Meeting the Universe Halfway". In it, Barad develops an epistemology that is not based on the distanced observer, but on embedded actors as cognitive agents, and a concept of nature that encompasses supposedly human characteristics such as morality, intentionality, freedom and agency.

We want to try to explore theoretical questions as closely as possible to our own artistic questions.

Term paper of 10-15 pages on a theoretical topic of own choice.

Term paper of 10-15 pages on an artistic work or an exhibition.

Artistic work + artistic essay.

This information is for guidance only. More precise conditions will be clarified in the seminar. The requirements can always be adapted to individual needs and problems. If necessary, written work can be replaced by an oral examination, for example.

Talk to me, we'll find a solution that makes sense for your artistic and theoretic development.

The main course language is German. The literature is in English.

You do not have to be able to speak German to take part in the seminar - but basic listening comprehension is useful. I will do my best to ensure that participants whose native language is not German can take part in the seminar. You can speak in English and I will answer in English. I will repeat important explanations in English. Experience has shown that many course participants switch back and forth between German and English.