Post-Digital Aesthetics
Lecture
-
- Language of instruction
- German
- Semester offered
- SS 2020
- Schedule
Weekly
- Date(s) & Time
- Mon, 11:30 – 13:30
- Contact hours per semester
- 21
- Instructor(s)
-
Prof. Dr.
Christoph
Seibert
Lorenz Schwarz
Dr. Paul Modler
This interdisciplinary seminar, conducted in collaboration with the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (HfM), explores the concept of post-digital aesthetics and its impact on music and sound design after the digital revolution.
The seminar combines theoretical perspectives on the post-digital condition with practical investigations of its relevance to contemporary sound art, experimental music, and media art. Through lectures, discussions, and creative assignments, students will critically engage with the discourse on post-digital utopias, glitches, and artistic strategies that embrace imperfection and error.
Prerequisites
- No prior knowledge required; open to participants from all disciplines
Learning Objectives
- Understand the concept of post-digital aesthetics and its relevance to contemporary sound and media art
- Critically engage with theoretical discourses on post-digital utopias and cultural shifts after the digital revolution
- Apply concepts of failure and imperfection in experimental sound and artistic projects
Credits
- Leistungsnachweis Fachtheorie Medienkunst (graded Theory Course Credit)
- Leistungsnachweis Medienkunst (graded Course Credit)
Methods
- Lectures on post-digital aesthetics, glitch art, and computer music
- Group discussions on key texts including Kim Cascone's essay and related works
- Creative assignments exploring post-digital concepts
Assessment tasks
- Present a creative project or written analysis demonstrating engagement with post-digital aesthetics
- Write reflections on post-digital aesthetics or create sound pieces exploring glitches and errors
Recommended literature
- Berry, David M., and Michael Dieter, editors. Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
- Blake, Thom, Mark Fell, Tony Myatt, and Peter Worth. “Yasunao Tone and MP3 Deviation.” Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2010, pp. 235–236.
- Church, Scott Haden. “Against the Tyranny of Musical Form: Glitch Music, Affect, and the Sound of Digital Malfunction.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 34, no. 4, 6 June 2017, pp. 315–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2017.1333624.
- Cramer, Florian. “What Is ‘Post-digital’?” Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design, edited by David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp. 12–26. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137437204_2.
- Herwig, Jana. “Postdigitaler Vordenker oder digitaler Antagonist? Zu Nicholas Negropontes Entwurf des Digitalen (1995).” Post-Digital Culture, edited by Daniel Kulle, Cornelia Lund, Oliver Schmidt, and David Ziegenhagen, 2015. Post-Digital Culture, http://post-digital-culture.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/herwig_2015_postdigitaler-vordenker-oder-digitaler-antagonist.pdf.
- Krämer, Sybille. “Das Medium als Spur und als Apparat.” Medien, Computer, Realität: Wirklichkeitsvorstellungen und Neue Medien, edited by Sybille Krämer, Suhrkamp, 1998, pp. 73–94.
- Latartara, John. “Laptop Composition at the Turn of the Millennium: Repetition and Noise in the Music of Oval, Merzbow, and Kid606.” Twentieth-Century Music, vol. 7, no. 1, 2010, pp. 91–115. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478572211000065.
- Negroponte, Nicholas. “Beyond Digital.” Wired, 6 Dec. 1998. https://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED6-12.html.