170221 PS Proseminar "Narrativität in Theater, Film und Medien" (2021W)

The seminar examines forms of virtual and other time-based media as post-colonial empowerment strategies. The focus will be on virtual, ephemeral, interactive, and utopian approaches which utilise 'virtual' and other ‘time-based’ media in two ways: -on the one hand, foregrounding ‘time’ and ‘space’ as central factors which generate an 'extended' experience of artificial realities which range from unexpected camera angles and edits to 360° video or augmented reality experiences and formats that enable immersive interaction. And, -on the other hand, in the context of post-colonial and anti-racist theory and practice, 'virtuality' and ‘time’ are utilised as key concepts which capture the experiences of marginalised people in a hegemonic society. To that end, the seminar will navigate through different economies of time – the now, before, and/or the (imagined) future(s), to examine the different junctions which exist between these two concepts, and to interrogate the multifaceted relationship between images (as captured and projected via virtual media, and other time-based interventions) and time—historical, individual, and communal. It is assumed that in a time of extreme global power and distribution gaps, as well as the aftermath of extreme asymmetrical experiences of violence which characterised the 20th century; virtual and other time-based media interventions play a decisive role in shaping our sense of place and belonging by connecting us with the past and shaping our present reality, as well as our imagination of the future. Likewise, in the post-colonial context, virtual and time-based media are used to make persistent mechanisms of oppression visible, or to give alternative answers to 'Western' dominated discourses on development and progress.

Often times, these formats are linked to traditions of afro-futurism or magical realism. Questions of history and identity are often inherently negotiated even where, at first glance, science fiction or futuristic formats appear to be in the foreground. Special attention is therefore paid to projects that adopt elements such as silence, humor, magic and horror as their aesthetic strategies in order to make the inexpressible relatable and enable processes of negotiation. The focus of the class is on virtual media and other time-based interventions from an African and Afro-American context which adopt digital technologies to address trauma, memory, and historicity. 360° and VR technologies play an increasing role in commemoration practices in the context of asymmetric violence, which is also true for post-genocide and post-colonial contexts. Colonial experiences are thematized in the 360° video LET THIS BE A WARNING by the Kenyan Nest Collective for example, in which the viewer is placed in the threatening position of the 'other' on an imaginary planet via VR glasses. Interactive online formats can serve as forms of digital remembrance like in Usher Raymond’s project CHAINS, victims of racist police violence in the USA are commemorated using facial recognition technologies to make it impossible for viewers to 'look away'.

Traumatic experiences and their effects on subjective as well as collective levels are characterized by the fact that they destroy existing strategies of meaning production which leads to the difficulty or even impossibility of articulation. Media and technologies are seen as potential instruments for creating meaning and communicative practices and for generating knowledge and common sense, and by doing so, form the basis of either oppressive systems or resistance and empowerment. What cannot be articulated under the given social conditions of the present, is often expressed in an aesthetically mediated or encrypted manner. Artists and activists use films and audiovisual forms of representation, and virtual and time-based media in particular, to create visibility for alternative realities and to challenge the status quo.