Extractivism: Data & Methodology
Kristina Pia Hofer
Institute of Fine Arts and Media Art, Media Theory
2025W, Proseminar (PS), 3.0 ECTS, 2.0 semester hours, course number S04961
Description
This course is a Proseminar, literally a class that will prepare you for the academic Seminars (i.e., classes that require a 15-20 page academic term paper) offered at Angewandte, with a focus on methodologies used in Media Studies. Our topical frame for thinking methodology will be extractivism in sound and music research, both historical and current: How are anthropological sound recordings that are stored in museum and university archives in Europe entangled with colonial epistemologies and ecologies? What strategies have minoritized sound producers come up with to counter and refuse extractivist logics of possession? What complications and complexities can emerge when European institutions try to restitute recorded material to so-called communities of implication? While we’re engaging with texts that address these questions, I will invite you to rehearse, review and refine your basic academic research skills (identifying research questions, honing arguments, finding and referencing sources). Together, we’ll think through how our own handling of data might reproduce extractivist dynamics, and whether there are ways to work differently.
Examination Modalities
Attendance is mandatory. There will be a reading assignment to complete before each class, i.e., you will have to read a text at home and will be expected to be able to discuss it at length in class. I’ll ask you to complete a number of short written assignments over the course of the term, which you will bring to class to get feedback on. You will write these assignments both in the classroom and at home; and you might be both working alone and collaborating with your peers. Grades will be calculated according to: participation in class (especially in workshops/group discussions), your portfolio (=collection of all written assignments, to be handed in by the end of the term), and a reflective oral or written exam in January 2026.
Comments
Classroom language is English, the texts you'll read in preparation are not always available in German translation. If you feel more comfortable speaking German in classroom discussions, please don't hesitate to register, we'll find a way to make it work.
Key Words
sound studies, archive, methodology
Dates
06 October 2025, 12:00–13:30 Seminar Room 24
13 October 2025, 12:00–15:15 Seminar Room 24
27 October 2025, 12:00–15:15 Seminar Room 24
10 November 2025, 12:00–15:15 Seminar Room 24
24 November 2025, 12:00–15:15 Seminar Room 24
01 December 2025, 12:00–15:15 Seminar Room 24 , "Guest Lecture Weronika Zmiejewski: A Shared Heritage? WWII Recordings of "Central Asia" in Viennese Phonogrammarchiv"
15 December 2025, 12:00–15:15 Seminar Room 24
12 January 2026, 12:00–13:30 Seminar Room 24
Course Enrolment
From 01 September 2025, 09:00 to 06 October 2025, 09:01
Via online registration
Curriculum Allocation
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
Transformation Studies. Art x Science (Bachelor): Focus! Transformation Areas: Digital Transformation 162/040.10
Transformation Studies. Art x Science (Bachelor): Focus! Transformation Areas: Media Transformation 162/040.50
TransArts - Transdisciplinary Arts (Bachelor): Theoretical foundations: Theoretical foundations 180/003.01
Expanded Museum Studies (Master): Electives: Media Theory 537/080.20
Stage Design (1. Section): Medientechnik: Geschichte, Theorie und Ästhetik von Film und Medienkunst 542/106.01
Stage Design (2. Section): Medientechnik: Geschichte, Theorie und Ästhetik von Film und Medienkunst 542/206.01
Media Arts: Specialisation in Transmedia Arts (1. Section): Wissenschaftlich theoretische und historische Grundlagen: Medientheorie, Mediengeschichte 566/108.02
Media Arts: Specialisation in Transmedia Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie und Geschichte : Medientheorie, Mediengeschichte 566/208.02
Media Arts: Specialisation in Digital Arts (1. Section): Wissenschaftlich theoretische und historische Grundlagen: Medientheorie, Mediengeschichte 567/108.02
Media Arts: Specialisation in Digital Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie, Geschichte: Medientheorie, Mediengeschichte 567/208.02
Design: Specialisation in Design and Narrative Media (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Fundamentals: Humanities 576/203.02
Design: Specialisation in Communication Design (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Humanities 577/203.02
Design: Specialisation in Fashion Design (1. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Free Elective Pool Methodological and Theoretical Basics 584/103.80
Conservation and Restoration (2. Section): Geisteswissenschaften: Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte 588/204.10
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Media Theory,Art&Knowledge Transfer,Th. of Architecture,Th. and Hist. of Design 605/202.02
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Free Electives out of Scientific and Research Practice 605/202.80
Design: Specialisation in Applied Photography and Time-based Media (1. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Media Theory and Communication Theory 626/103.05
Co-registration: possible
Attending individual courses: possible