körperwellen. towards resonance as model, metaphor and method

final conference of the graduate college lecture course "körper-inszenierungen" [freie universität berlin]

'man, believe me, is a musical instrument. his nerves are the strings of the musical instrument; they vibrate with every pluck.'
[michel paul guy de chabanon, 1779]
koerperwellen.jpg

-- thurs. 18. may 2006 to sat. 20. may 2006 --

the graduate college körper-inszenierungen finds its official conclusion with the conference körperwellen. towards resonance as model, metaphor and method, after its nine-year duration. the college applied itself to the question of the dramatic potential of corporal phenomena within the context of european and non-european practices and epochs. now the college places a simultaneously final and prospective focus on the theme of body stagings [körper-inszenierungen].

after the long standing and heated discourse over linguistic, iconic and performative gymnastics, the conference now poses the question of whether in doing this the acoustic potential of cultural spaces is not neglected. at the centre of the conference therefore, lies the concept, especially familiar in physics, acoustics and instrument building: resonance. the körperwellen conference wants to provoke a debate about cultural spaces as spaces of resonance in which simultaneous as well as asynchronous developments in science, art and technology are applied.

at the core of the debate are the historical areas of meaning of the concept of resonance and its exemplary, metaphorical and methodical dimensions. special attention is given to the human body and the question in which ways this can be described as locale for different effects of resonance, from the physical actuality of resonance to haptic resonance phenomena, from experiential to instrumental concepts of the resonant body and from there to the aesthetic principle of different resonant effects as the area of contact between the human body and its environment, finally, as allegory for the displacement of body and system between momentum and inertia. in the background there is the question in what way the body is not only displaced by resonance but also has itself become a phenomenon as a concept in cultural sciences in the last few years and engendered resonance between different disciplines.

the goal of the conference is to highlight the so far unobserved coherence between seemingly far apart cultural fields and to open an interdisciplinary exchange between academics and artists.

the event is supported by the deutschen forschungsgemeinschaft and the fritz thyssen foundation and is overseen by prof. erika fischer-lichte and prof. gabriele brandstetter [both from the institute for theatre sciences, fu berlin].
among others, stephen greenblatt [cambridge, mass.], allen s. weiss [new york], brigitte felderer [wien], wolfgang hagen [berlin], helmar schramm [berlin] will be speaking.

within the context of the conference there is laurent chétouanes production of georg büchner's 'lenz*' [with fabian hinrichs in the title role]. the french sound artists lynn pook & julian lauss present their project réactions épidermiques and the berlin artist petra lottje shows her sound installation monentmal.

link to programme as .pdf

www.fu-berlin.de/bodynet

to program > kubus