02 Wissenschaft und Kultur allgemein
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Urban design played a central role for the European dictatorships during the 20th century, it served to legitimate the regime, to produce agreement, to demonstrate power, efficiency and speed, it communicated the social, as well as design projects, of the dictatorial regimes domestically and internationally, it tied old experts, as well as new, to the regime. Dictatorial urban design also played an important role after the fall of the dictatorships: It became the object of structural and verbal handling strategies: of demolition, of transformation, of reconstruction, of forgetting, of suppressing, of re-interpretation and of glorification. The topic area is, therefore, both historical and relevant to the present day. The discussion of the topic area is, like it or not, always embedded in the present state of societal engagement with dictatorships.
In order to even be able to discuss all of these aspects, different conceptual decisions are necessary. In retrospect, these may seem to many as self-evident, although they are anything but. Our thesis is that there are three methodological imperatives, especially, which allow an expanded approach to the topic area “urban design and dictatorship”. First and above all, the tunnel view, focused on individual dictatorships and neglecting the international dimension, must be overcome. Second, the differences in urban design over the course of a dictatorship, through an appropriate periodisation, should be emphasised. Third, we must strive for an open, flexible, but complex concept of urban design. The main focus lies on the urban design of the most influential dictatorships of the first half of the 20th century: Soviet Union, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, including the urban design of the autarky periods in Portugal and Spain.
After all, urban design is not just a product of specific historic circumstances. It is a form that continues to have long-term effects, which demonstrates its usefulness and adaptability throughout this process. The urban design products undoubtedly still recall the dictatorial rule under which they were created. However, they are more than a memory space. They are also a living space of the present. They can and should be discussed with respect to their spatial and functional utility for today and tomorrow. Such a perspective is a given for the citizens of a city, but also for city marketing, having marvellous consequences. Only when we do not exclude this dimension a priori, even in academic discussions, can we do justice to the products of dictatorships.
And finally, the view of the urban design of dictatorships can and must contribute to the questioning of simplified and naive conceptions of dictatorships. With urban design in mind, we can observe how dictatorships work and how they were able to prevail. In Europe, these questions are of the highest actuality.
Those who ask how social entities relate to the past, enter a field defined by competing interpretations and contested practices of a collectively shared heritage. Dissent and conflict among heritage communities represent productive moments in the negotiation of these varying constructs of the past, identities, and heritage. At the same time, they lead to omissions, the overwriting and amendment of existing constructs. A closer look at all that is suppressed, excluded or rejected opens up new perspectives: It reveals how social groups are formed through public disputes upon the material foundations of heritage constructs.
Taking the concept of censorship, the volume engages with the exclusionary and inclusionary mechanisms that underlie the construction of heritage and thus social identities. Censorship is understood here as a discursive strategy in public debates. In current debates, allegations of censorship surface primarily in cases where the handling of a certain heritage constructs is subjected to critical evaluation, or on the contrary, needs to be protected from criticism or even destruction. The authors trace the connection between heritage and identity and show that identity constructs are not only manifested within heritage but are actively negotiated through it.
Since the end of the 1950s, Italy has focused part of its modernization on the erection of public works. Due to corruption, mafia, and further malpractice, this form of development has occasionally failed, producing a high number of constructions that have remained unfinished for decades. In 2007, the group of artists Alterazioni Video constructed an informal survey in the form of an on-line tool open to public contributions, which revealed that there are 395 unfinished public works in Italy from which 156, approximately 39.5%, are located in Sicily alone. In view of such a statistic, Alterazioni Video opted to coin the term ‘Incompiuto Siciliano’ – literally ‘Sicilian Incompletion’ – to refer to unfinished public works as a formal architectural style. This re-interpretation, which aims to convey the recovered dignity of these ‘modern ruins’, considers unfinished public works a type of heritage with the potential to represent the entirety of Italian society. Furthermore, it goes as far as to say an unfinished public work is ‘Incompiuto Siciliano’ despite being located in another of the Italian regions.
This doctoral dissertation embraces the artists’ argument to develop a complete study of Incompiuto Siciliano by embedding this architectural style/artistic project within the main debates on modern ruins at present. This is important because it is expected to contribute to the revalorization and eventual recommissioning of unfinished sites by validating Incompiuto Siciliano in the realm of academia. Furthermore, this work aspires to be a worthwhile source of information for future investigations dealing with cultural interpretations of incompletion in any other context – a not unreasonable goal considering how unfinished works are one of the key urban topics after the 2008 financial crisis. Hence, this doctoral dissertation uses Incompiuto Siciliano to discuss a different perspective in each of the five chapters and, though these can be read as independent contributions, the objective is that all chapters read together, form a clear, concise, continuous unit. And so it must be said this is not a dissertation about unfinished public works in Italy; this is a dissertation about Incompiuto Siciliano as an artistic response to unfinished public works in Italy – which clearly requires an interdisciplinary analysis involving Urban Studies, Cultural Geography, Contemporary Archaeology, Critical Heritage and Visual Arts.
Housing estates were fundamentally conceived upon state socialist utopia ideas to provide standard housing for citizens. While former state socialist housing estates have been extensively researched in the field of architecture, urban and sociology studies, there is still a gap in identifying how production processes affect morphological changes during the post-socialist era. This thesis compares the processes in the production of the largest housing estates of Marzahn in GDR and Petržalka in Czechoslovakia from 1970 to 1989 through contextual analysis of primary and secondary sources, which include visual maps, diagrams from professional architecture and planning journals, government documents and textbooks, as well as academic journals, books and newspaper articles. Then it discusses how these processes inadvertently created conducive conditions affecting their development in the market economy after 1989. It then interprets the results through application of Actor-Network Theory and Historical Institutionalism, while conceptualising them through David Harvey’s dialectical utopianism theory. Harvey (2000) delineates two types of utopia, one of spatial form and one of process. The former refers to materialised ideals in physical forms whereas the latter refers to the ongoing process of spatializing. The thesis aims to show how the production of Marzahn in GDR was more path dependent on policies established in 1950s and 1960s whereas Petržalka was a product of new Czechoslovakian policies in 1970s, changing aspects of the urban planning process, a manifestation of a more emphatic technocratic thinking on a wider scale. This ultimately influences the trajectories of development after 1989, showing more effects in Petržalka.
Welche Zukünfte?
(2017)
For decades in Germany, historical research on dictatorial urban design in the first half of the 20th century focused on the National Socialist period. Studies on the urban design practices of other dictatorships remained an exception. This has changed. Meanwhile, the urban production practices of the Mussolini, Stalin, Salazar, Hitler and Franco dictatorships have become the subject of comprehensive research projects. Recently, a research group that studies dictatorial urban design in 20th century Europe has emerged at the Bauhaus-Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und der Planung. The group is already able to refer to various research results.
Part of the research group’s self-conception is the assumption that the urban design practices of the named dictatorships can only be properly understood from a European perspective. The dictatorships influenced one another substantially. Furthermore, the specificities of the practices of each dictatorship can only be discerned if one can compare them to those of the other dictatorships. This approach requires strict adherence to the research methods of planning history and urban design theory. Meanwhile, these methods must be opened
to include those of general historical studies.
With this symposium, the research group aims to further qualify this European perspective. The aim is to pursue an inventory of the various national historiographies on the topic of “urban design and dictatorship”. This inventory should offer an overview on the general national level of historical research on urban design as well as on the level of particular urban design projects, persons or topics.
The symposium took place in Weimar, November 21-22, 2013. It was organized by Harald Bodenschatz, Piero Sassi and Max Welch Guerra and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
Granite on the Ground: Former Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Nuremberg/Germany. A brief introduction
(2015)
For decades in Germany, historical research on dictatorial urban design in the first half of the 20th century focused on the National Socialist period. Studies on the urban design practices of other dictatorships remained an exception. This has changed. Meanwhile, the urban production practices of the Mussolini, Stalin, Salazar, Hitler and Franco dictatorships have become the subject of comprehensive research projects. Recently, a research group that studies dictatorial urban design in 20th century Europe has emerged at the Bauhaus-Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und der Planung. The group is already able to refer to various research results.
Part of the research group’s self-conception is the assumption that the urban design practices of the named dictatorships can only be properly understood from a European perspective. The dictatorships influenced one another substantially. Furthermore, the specificities of the practices of each dictatorship can only be discerned if one can compare them to those of the other dictatorships. This approach requires strict adherence to the research methods of planning history and urban design theory. Meanwhile, these methods must be opened
to include those of general historical studies.
With this symposium, the research group aims to further qualify this European perspective. The aim is to pursue an inventory of the various national historiographies on the topic of “urban design and dictatorship”. This inventory should offer an overview on the general national level of historical research on urban design as well as on the level of particular urban design projects, persons or topics.
The symposium took place in Weimar, November 21-22, 2013. It was organized by Harald Bodenschatz, Piero Sassi and Max Welch Guerra and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
Ausgehend von der Bemerkung des Philosophen Jacques Derrida, dass Erbe immer auch eine Aufgabe sei, widmet sich der dritte Band der Schriftenreihe des Graduiertenkollegs „Identität und Erbe“ den sozialen und kulturellen Praktiken der Bezugnahme auf Vergangenheit(en) und Identität(en). Mit einem (kulturellen) Erbe soll und muss etwas getan werden, um es überhaupt hervorzubringen. Es konstituiert sich erst im Akt des (Nicht-)Erbens, das heißt im Wechselverhältnis mit den mit und an ihm ausgeführten Praktiken. Gleichwohl ermöglicht erst deren Verbindung mit den materiellen Überresten und Überlieferungen des Erbes eine Aneignung oder Ablehnung der Vergangenheit sowie die Fort- und Umschreibung eines bereits bestehenden Erbes. Diese Vorgänge sind nicht willkürlicher Natur: Die Möglichkeiten zur Interpretation und Deutung werden durch die sozialen, politischen, kulturellen, ökonomischen und technischen Bedingungen der Gegenwart sowie durch die Geschichte und Materialität des Erbes beschränkt, erweitert und gelenkt. Erbe und Erbeprozesse müssen deshalb notwendigerweise miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden.
Mit Beiträgen von Simone Bogner und Michael Karpf, Stefan Willer, Giorgia Aquilar, Jörg Springer, Bernd Euler-Rolle, Elizabeth Sikiaridi und Frans Vogelaar, Verena von Beckerath, Alexandra Klei, Oluwafunminiyi Raheem, Ronny Grundig, Özge Sezer, Anna Kutkina, Inge Manka, Karolina Hettchen und Monique Jüttner sowie Julian Blunk.
For decades in Germany, historical research on dictatorial urban design in the first half of the 20th century focused on the National Socialist period. Studies on the urban design practices of other dictatorships remained an exception. This has changed. Meanwhile, the urban production practices of the Mussolini, Stalin, Salazar, Hitler and Franco dictatorships have become the subject of comprehensive research projects. Recently, a research group that studies dictatorial urban design in 20th century Europe has emerged at the Bauhaus-Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und der Planung. The group is already able to refer to various research results.
Part of the research group’s self-conception is the assumption that the urban design practices of the named dictatorships can only be properly understood from a European perspective. The dictatorships influenced one another substantially. Furthermore, the specificities of the practices of each dictatorship can only be discerned if one can compare them to those of the other dictatorships. This approach requires strict adherence to the research methods of planning history and urban design theory. Meanwhile, these methods must be opened
to include those of general historical studies.
With this symposium, the research group aims to further qualify this European perspective. The aim is to pursue an inventory of the various national historiographies on the topic of “urban design and dictatorship”. This inventory should offer an overview on the general national level of historical research on urban design as well as on the level of particular urban design projects, persons or topics.
The symposium took place in Weimar, November 21-22, 2013. It was organized by Harald Bodenschatz, Piero Sassi and Max Welch Guerra and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
This report details the development of Horoskopos, a virtual planetarium for astrology. This project was an attempt to develop a learning tool for studying astrological concepts as connected to observational astronomy. The premise that astrology and observational astronomy were once inseparable from each other in ancient times guided the conceptualization of this tool as an interactive planetarium. The main references were existing software and applications for visualization in astrology and astronomy. Professional astrology teachers were consulted in order to understand better the state of astrological teaching and learning, as well as existing tools and practice. Horoskopos was built using the Unity3D development interface, which is based on the C# programming language. It also relied on the Swiss Ephemeris coding interface from Astrodienst. The development process was experimental and many of the needed skills were developed as needed. Usability tests were performed as new features were added to the interface. The final version of Horoskopos is fully usable, with many interactive visualization features and a defined visual identity. It was validated together with professional astrologers for its effectiveness in concept and visualization.
For decades in Germany, historical research on dictatorial urban design in the first half of the 20th century focused on the National Socialist period. Studies on the urban design practices of other dictatorships remained an exception. This has changed. Meanwhile, the urban production practices of the Mussolini, Stalin, Salazar, Hitler and Franco dictatorships have become the subject of comprehensive research projects. Recently, a research group that studies dictatorial urban design in 20th century Europe has emerged at the Bauhaus-Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und der Planung. The group is already able to refer to various research results.
Part of the research group’s self-conception is the assumption that the urban design practices of the named dictatorships can only be properly understood from a European perspective. The dictatorships influenced one another substantially. Furthermore, the specificities of the practices of each dictatorship can only be discerned if one can compare them to those of the other dictatorships. This approach requires strict adherence to the research methods of planning history and urban design theory. Meanwhile, these methods must be opened
to include those of general historical studies.
With this symposium, the research group aims to further qualify this European perspective. The aim is to pursue an inventory of the various national historiographies on the topic of “urban design and dictatorship”. This inventory should offer an overview on the general national level of historical research on urban design as well as on the level of particular urban design projects, persons or topics.
The symposium took place in Weimar, November 21-22, 2013. It was organized by Harald Bodenschatz, Piero Sassi and Max Welch Guerra and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
Strategien der Sichtbarkeit und Sichtbarmachung von ‚Wearable Enhancement‘ im Bereich Smart Health
(2022)
Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit befasst sich mit der Entwicklung und Gestaltung von körpernahen, tragbaren Artefakten für den digitalisierten Gesundheitsbereich. Unter dem entwickelten Begriff des Wearable Enhancements werden die verschiedenen Termini aus smarten Textilien, Fashion Technologies, Wearable Technologies sowie elektronischen Textilien zusammengefasst und zwei zentrale Forschungsfragen untersucht. Wie kann Wearable Enhancement im Bereich Smart Health ethisch, sozial und ökologisch entwickelt und gestaltet werden? Inwiefern können textile Schnittstellen die Wahrnehmung und die Wahrnehmbarkeit des Körpers verändern? Mit der ersten Forschungsfrage sollen vorrangig Ansätze und Strategien der Sichtbarkeit für die Entwicklung und Gestaltung diskutiert werden, welche Aussagen für die Designpraxis, den Gestaltungs- und Designforschungsprozess sowie die Designlösungen selbst generieren sollen. Die zweite Forschungsfrage zielt darauf, Formen der Sichtbarmachung von sowie für Wearable Enhancement zu untersuchen.
Anhand von drei konkreten Fallstudien werden wesentliche Aspekte der Rezeption, Perzeption, Konstruktion, Konfiguration und Konzeption von soziotechnischen Artefakten zur Funktionssteigerung des menschlichen Körpers untersucht und verschiedene Formen der Sichtbarkeit und Sichtbarmachung entwickelt. In der Arbeit wird ein dual-angelegter transdisziplinärer Designforschungsansatz entwickelt und praktiziert, welcher sowohl die menschlichen Bedürfnisse der Nutzer*innen als auch die Weiterentwicklung von Technologien berücksichtigt. Auf dieser Grundlage wird versucht Anregungen für ein zukunftsfähiges und zugleich verantwortungsorientiertes Design zu geben.
For decades in Germany, historical research on dictatorial urban design in the first half of the 20th century focused on the National Socialist period. Studies on the urban design practices of other dictatorships remained an exception. This has changed. Meanwhile, the urban production practices of the Mussolini, Stalin, Salazar, Hitler and Franco dictatorships have become the subject of comprehensive research projects. Recently, a research group that studies dictatorial urban design in 20th century Europe has emerged at the Bauhaus-Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und der Planung. The group is already able to refer to various research results.
Part of the research group’s self-conception is the assumption that the urban design practices of the named dictatorships can only be properly understood from a European perspective. The dictatorships influenced one another substantially. Furthermore, the specificities of the practices of each dictatorship can only be discerned if one can compare them to those of the other dictatorships. This approach requires strict adherence to the research methods of planning history and urban design theory. Meanwhile, these methods must be opened
to include those of general historical studies.
With this symposium, the research group aims to further qualify this European perspective. The aim is to pursue an inventory of the various national historiographies on the topic of “urban design and dictatorship”. This inventory should offer an overview on the general national level of historical research on urban design as well as on the level of particular urban design projects, persons or topics.
The symposium took place in Weimar, November 21-22, 2013. It was organized by Harald Bodenschatz, Piero Sassi and Max Welch Guerra and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
The most fundamental understating of hybridization methodology takes the form of stable but dynamic notions, accumulated over time in the memory of individuals. Schematized and abstracted, the hybrids representation needs to be reproduced and reused in order to reconstruct and bring back other memories. Reinvented, or reused hybrids can support getting access to social, traditional, religious understanding of nations. In this manner, they take the form of the messenger / the mediator an innate, equivalent to the use of mental places in the art of memory. We remember mythology in order to remember other things.
From individual memory perspective, or group collective memory, the act of recollection is assumed to be an individual act, biologically based in the brain, but by definition conditioned by social collectives. Following Halbwachs, this thesis does not recognize a dichotomy between individual and collective memory as two different types of remembering. Conversely, the collective is thought of as inherent to individual thought, questioning perspectives that regard individual recollection as isolated from social settings. The individual places himself in relation to the group and makes use of the collective frameworks of thought when he localizes and reconstructs the past, whether in private or in social settings. The frameworks of social relations, of time, and of space are constructs originating in social interaction and distributed in the memory of the group members. The individual has his own perspective on the collective frameworks of the group, and the group’s collective frameworks can be regarded as a common denominator of the individual outlooks on the framework.
In acts of remembering, the individual may actualize the depicted symbols in memory, but he could also employ precepts from the environment. The latter have been referred to as material or external frameworks of memory, suggesting their similar role as catalysts for processes of remembrance such as that of the hybrids in my paintings. It is only with reference to the hybrids, who work as messengers / mediators with a dual nature, that communicate between the past and the present, the internal and external space, that individual memory and group memory is in focus.
The exhibition at the Egyptian museum in Leipzig is my practical method to create a communicative memory, using hybrids as mediators in cultural transimission, as when the act refers to informal and everyday situations in which group members informally search for the past, it takes place in the communicative
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memory. As explained in chapter one, the exhibition at the Egyptian museum in Leipzig is an act of remembering in search for the past with support of my paintings, which then can considered as part of the cultural memory.
In addition to the theoretical framework summarized above, I have applied my hypothesis practically in the form of the public exhibition, and shared the methodology with public audience from Cairo / Egypt and Leipzig / German in the form of visual art workshops and open discussions. I have also suggested an analyzed description of the meaning of hybrids in my artwork as mediators and messengers for the purpose of cultural transmission, as well as in relation to other artists’ work and use of a similar concept.
By using my hybrid creatures in my visual artwork, I am creating a bridge, mediators to represent both the past and the present, what we remember of the past, and how we understand the past. It is as explained in chapter two; that the hybridization methodology in terms of double membership represented in different cultures –Cairo / Egypt and Leipzig / Germany- can provide a framework which allows artistic discussions and could be individually interpreted, so individual cultures / individual memory can become transparent without losing their identities and turn into communicative memory. This transmission through the hybridization theoretical approech was explicitly clarified with the support of Krämer’s hypothesis. The practical attempt was examined by creating a relationship between the witness –me as an artist– and the audience –the exhibition visitors–, to cross space and time, not to bridge differences, rather to represent the contrasts transparently.
The Kin-making proposition is adopted by many academics and scholars in modern society and theoretical research; the topic was represented in the roots of the ancient Egyptian mindset and supported theoretically by similar understandings such as Haraway’s definition of kin-making. The practical implementation of kin- making can be observed in many of my artwork and was analyzed visually and artistically in chapter three.
My practical project outcome tested success by using hybrids in my paintings as mediators, it opened a communicative artistic discussion. This methodology gave a possible path of communication through paintings / visual analyses, and offered relativity through image self-interpretation.
Restelo Neighbourhood: Expanding the Capital of the Empire with the First Portuguese Urban Planner
(2015)
For decades in Germany, historical research on dictatorial urban design in the first half of the 20th century focused on the National Socialist period. Studies on the urban design practices of other dictatorships remained an exception. This has changed. Meanwhile, the urban production practices of the Mussolini, Stalin, Salazar, Hitler and Franco dictatorships have become the subject of comprehensive research projects. Recently, a research group that studies dictatorial urban design in 20th century Europe has emerged at the Bauhaus-Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und der Planung. The group is already able to refer to various research results.
Part of the research group’s self-conception is the assumption that the urban design practices of the named dictatorships can only be properly understood from a European perspective. The dictatorships influenced one another substantially. Furthermore, the specificities of the practices of each dictatorship can only be discerned if one can compare them to those of the other dictatorships. This approach requires strict adherence to the research methods of planning history and urban design theory. Meanwhile, these methods must be opened
to include those of general historical studies.
With this symposium, the research group aims to further qualify this European perspective. The aim is to pursue an inventory of the various national historiographies on the topic of “urban design and dictatorship”. This inventory should offer an overview on the general national level of historical research on urban design as well as on the level of particular urban design projects, persons or topics.
The symposium took place in Weimar, November 21-22, 2013. It was organized by Harald Bodenschatz, Piero Sassi and Max Welch Guerra and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
Ausgehend von der vielfachen Verwertung der bäuerlichen Kleidung durch den Staat während des Sozialismus in Rumänien wird in der Arbeit das ‚Gemacht-Sein‘ von Volkstrachten befragt entlang von im untersuchten Zeitraum wirkenden Diskursen, wie dem Prozess der Modernisierung oder der Hervorhebung nationaler Werte. Die künstlerische Forschung setzt dabei auf Simulacra (Roland Barthes). Ziel war, tradierte Formate der Wissensaufbereitung und -verbreitung zu appropriieren, so auch von Strategien, die auf der Ebene von Bildern und Sprache agieren, um eine Re-Lektüre sowohl von ‚Volkstracht‘ im Sozialismus als auch von ihren Entsprechungen nach 1989 zu ermöglichen.
Die hier vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Modifizieren von Computerspielen (Modding). Die Annäherung an das Modding geschieht aus zwei unterschiedlichen Blickrichtungen: Zum einen wird mit einem analytischen Blick auf das Themenfeld geschaut, der das bereits Erforschte mit den eigenen Suchbewegungen kombiniert. Zum anderen wird die Perspektive der Handlung eingenommen, die sich in der Widerständigkeit des Materials, der Werkzeuge und der Spieltechnologie äußert. Im Mittelpunkt der Auseinandersetzung stehen das Modding als Praxis, die Mods als Derivate und die Erforschung des Computerspiels mit den Praktiken und Derivaten des Modifizierens. Das Modding wird so zu einer epistemischen Praxis des Computerspiels.
Die hier formulierten Überlegungen zum Modding, als eine forschende Praxis des Computerspiels, präsentieren eine Vorgehensweise, die ästhetische, widerständige und stabilisierende Aspekte in sich vereint. Sie dient der Erforschung des Computerspiels entlang seiner Diskussionen, Materialien, Technologien und Praktiken und fokussiert hierbei auf das Abseitige, dass als integraler Bestandteil des Computerspiels verstanden wird. Mit diesem Blick auf die Grenzen des Computerspielens werden Dinge sichtbar, die zwar Teil der synthetischen Computerspielwelten sind, durch dessen Inszenierungen und Atmosphären jedoch verschleiert werden. Der hier entwickelte Ansatz ermöglicht einen Perspektivenwechsel innerhalb dieser Welten und die Erforschung des Computerspiels unter besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner eingeschriebenen Normen und Machtverhältnissen. Das Modding dient hierbei als eine kritische Praxis zur Entschlüsselung dieser medial vermittelten Konstellationen.
Inhaltlich beschäftigt sich die Arbeit, die im Rahmen des Promotionsstudiengangs Kunst und Gestaltung an der Bauhaus-Universität entstand, mit der Erforschung sozio-interaktiver Potentiale der Videotelefonie im Kontext von Nähe und Verbundenheit mit Fokus auf Eigenbild, Embodiment sowie den Rederechtswechsel.
Die Videotelefonie als Kommunikationsform hat sich – und darauf deuten die Erfahrungen der Co- vid-19-Pandemie hin – im lebensweltlichen Alltag der Menschen etabliert und wird dort in naher Zukunft nicht mehr wegzudenken sein. Auf Basis ihrer Möglichkeiten und Errungenschaften ist es inzwischen Realität und Lebenswirklichkeit, dass die Kommunikation sowohl im privaten als auch im geschäftlichen Kontext mittels verschiedenster Kanäle stattfindet. Der Videotelefonie kommt hierbei als solche nicht nur eine tragende Funktion, sondern auch eine herausragende Rolle bei der vermeintlichen Reproduktion der Face-to-Face-Kommunikation im digitalen Raum zu und wird wie selbstverständlich zum zwischenmenschlichen Austausch genutzt. Just an diesem Punkt knüpft die Forschungsarbeit an. Zentral stand dabei das Vorhaben einer dezidierte Untersuchung des Forschungsgegenstandes Videotelefonie, sowohl aus Kultur- als auch Technikhistorischer, aber auch Medien-, Wahrnehmungs- wie Kommunikations- theoretischer Perspektive, indem analytische und phänosemiotische Perspektiven miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden (z.B. Wahrnehmungsbedingungen, Interaktionsmerkmale, realisierte Kommunikationsprozesse etc.). Damit verbundenes, wünschenswertes Ziel war es, eine möglichst zeitgemäße wie relevante Forschungsfrage zu adressieren, die neben den kulturellen Technisierungs- und Mediatisierungstendenzen in institutionellen und privaten Milieus ebenfalls eine conditio sine qua non der pandemischen (Massen-)Kommunikation entwirft.
Die Arbeit ist damit vor allem im Bereich des Produkt- und Interactiondesigns zu verorten. Darüber hinaus hatte sie das Ziel der Darlegung und Begründung der Videotelefonie als eigenständige Kommunikationsform, welche durch eigene, kommunikative Besonderheiten, die sich in ihrer jeweiligen Ingebrauchnahme sowie durch spezielle Wahrnehmungsbedingungen äußern, und die die Videotelefonie als »Rederechtswechselmedium« avant la lettre konsolidieren, gekennzeichnet ist. Dabei sollte der Beweis erbracht werden, dass die Videotelefonie nicht als Schwundstufe einer Kommunikation Face-to-Face, sondern als ein eigenständiges Mediatisierungs- und Kommunikationsereignis zu verstehen sei. Und eben nicht als eine beliebige – sich linear vom Telefon ausgehende – entwickelte Form der audio-visuellen Fernkommunikation darstellt, sondern die gestalterische (Bewegtbild-)Technizität ein eigenständiges Funktionsmaß offeriert, welches wiederum ein innovatives Kommunikationsmilieu im Kontext einer Rederechtswechsel-Medialität stabilisiert.
Im Südwesten Weimars befindet sich ein leerstehender Gebäudekomplex, der im Stadtraum heute unter dem Namen Funkhaus und vor allem für studentisch organisierte Partys bekannt ist. Doch das Gebäude entstand ursprünglich nicht als Radiostation, sondern zwischen 1937 und 1944 als Prestigeprojekt des nationalsozialistisch zugespitzten Nietzsche-Kults. Diese Projektarbeit beleuchtet anhand von Archivalien und Expertinneninterviews die Nutzungsgeschichte der ehemaligen »Nietzsche-Gedächtnishalle« und wirft die Frage auf, ob und wie ein solcher NS-Bau als Partylocation genutzt werden kann.