Discourse, Figure
Alexi Kukuljevic
Institute of Studies in Art and Art Education, Art Theory
2025W, scientific seminar (SEW), 4.0 ECTS, 2.0 semester hours, course number S05658
Scientific bachelor seminar for teacher education
Description
S05658 - Discourse, Figure (SEW)
“Utopia is the fact that truth never appears where it is expected.”
- Lyotard, Discourse, Figure
This seminar will consist of a close reading of Jean-Francoise Lyotard’s Discourse, Figure. Published in 1971, this book is both one of the great works of aesthetic theory in the 20th century and one of the greatest and lesser-known efforts to synthesize the insights of phenomenology (particularly, the work of Merleau-Ponty), the philosophy of language (Frege and the linguistics of Saussure), Freudian psychoanalysis, and Marxism (historical materialism). Lyotard turns to the work of art (particularly the practice of painting and writing poetry) in order to think the materiality of a practice that transforms the relation between the sayable (speech, language) and the sensible, words and things. It is this space marked by the comma separating (and relating through the form of this separation) “Discourse” and “Figure” that Lyotard seeks to define and conceptualize. And, as we will see, to conceptualize this space between discourse and figure, word and image requires a new theory of the subject and the rethinking of dialectical negativity. This subject foregrounded by artistic practice appears only as a blind spot in the interstice between discourse and figure: indicative of a site inaccessible to consciousness and whose convulsive appearance remains a critical historical symptom of what in the present is already otherwise.
16.10.2025 - 14:00 bis 17:00 | Seminarraum 09 (OKPV, 1.OG)
23.10.2025 - 14:00 bis 17:00 | Seminarraum 09 (OKPV, 1.OG)
06.11.2025 - 14:00 bis 17:00 | Seminarraum 08 (OKPF, 1.OG)
20.11.2025 - 14:00 bis 17:00 | Seminarraum 10 (OKPV, 1.OG)
04.12.2025 - 14:00 bis 17:00 | Seminarraum 09 (OKPV, 1.OG)
18.12.2025 - 14:00 bis 17:00 | Seminarraum 10 (OKPV, 1.OG)
15.01.2026 - 14:00 bis 17:00 | Seminarraum 08 (OKPF, 1.OG)
Examination Modalities
Attendance, short-essay, or equivalent
Comments
Auch deutschsprachige BA-Abschlussarbeiten sind willkommen!
Dates
Thu, 16 October 2025, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 9
Thu, 23 October 2025, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 9
Thu, 06 November 2025, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 8
Thu, 20 November 2025, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 10
Thu, 04 December 2025, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 9
Thu, 18 December 2025, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 10
Thu, 15 January 2026, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 8
Course Enrolment
From 01 September 2025, 09:00
Via online registration
Curriculum Allocation
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: aus Kunsttheorie 067/003.20
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: IT: Bachelorseminar Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.85
Art Education: subject kkp (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 067/003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Seminar aus dem Bereich Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften 067/003.25
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject tex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 071/003.80
Art Education: subject dae (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 072/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: IT: Bachelorseminar Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.85
Art Education: subject dex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 074/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Seminar aus dem Bereich Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften 074/003.25
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
TransArts - Transdisciplinary Arts (Bachelor): Theoretical foundations: Theoretical foundations 180/003.01
Expanded Museum Studies (Master): Electives: Art Theory 537/080.12
Stage Design (2. Section): Kunsttheorie und Kulturwissenschaften: Kunsttheorie 542/207.03
Media Arts: Specialisation in Transmedia Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie und Geschichte : Kunsttheorie 566/208.13
Media Arts: Specialisation in Digital Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie, Geschichte: Kunsttheorie 567/208.13
Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften (Master): Electives Area 1: Art Theory 568/005.05
Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften (Master): Electives Area 2: Art Theory 568/006.05
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
Conservation and Restoration (2. Section): Geisteswissenschaften: Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte 588/204.10
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Art Theory, Cultural Studies, Art History, Philosophy 605/202.01
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 (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Humanities 626/203.02
Co-registration: possible
Attending individual courses: possible