Universität Wien
Warning! The directory is not yet complete and will be amended until the beginning of the term.

080032 SE SE M610 Project I: Star fever - One hundred years of Planetarium Vienna (2026S)

8.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 8 - Kunstgeschichte und Europäische Ethnologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 03.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 10.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 17.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 24.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 14.04. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 21.04. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 28.04. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 05.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 12.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 19.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 26.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 02.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 09.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 16.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 23.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Tuesday 30.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

When Vienna's first planetarium opened in May 1927, it sparked a veritable planetarium craze: visitors flocked to the wooden pavilion to marvel at the projected starry sky and the apparatus that cast it onto the dome, newspapers were full of praise, and the new educational institution even had a pop song and a theatre revue dedicated to it. The Vienna Planetarium still exists today and has had an eventful history since 1927: it has been a cinema, a concert hall, an arena for the space race, and most recently even the scene of a crime novel.
The Planetarium is a place where people learn, marvel, dream, entertain themselves and experience and negotiate their relationship with nature, technology and the cosmos – and thus a place that offers plenty of material for cultural analysis. In this study project, we are researching the history of the Vienna Planetarium and developing an exhibition and a podcast to mark the centenary of this multifaceted institution.

Important info about the format:
The course is part of the "study project" format. A study project is a two-semester course in which a research topic is pursued in several coordinated sub-projects and presented to the public. The study project consists of two courses: M610 Project and M620 Research Workshop. In the project, the theoretical requirements are discussed and questions for the student's own research are developed; in the research workshop, research questions and methods are developed and their implementation is monitored. Successful participation requires the completion of both semesters and courses.

Assessment and permitted materials

Two-semester, examination-immanent course. 2 x absences allowed per semester. Students acquire knowledge about the subject area of the seminar and carry out their own research, which results in a self-written text. In the first semester, the state of research is analysed, questions for own contributions are developed and sources are viewed and generated. The aim of the second semester is to finalise the texts, exhibition and podcast.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Grading scale:

> = 92 very good (1)
> = 80 good (2)
> = 65 satisfactory (3)
> = 51 sufficient (4)
< 51 not sufficient (5)

Course immanent to examination; 2 x absences permitted

30 - oral participation, discussion of texts and feedback

30 - Research and presentation of content

40 - state of research and research design for an individual empirical cultural studies project

Examination topics

The examination material is made up of various components such as reading, presentation and discussion of literature, the development and realisation of an own research question, the generation of source material, the written elaboration and presentation. Detailed information will be provided at the first meeting.

Reading list

AUSWAHL:

Ahner, Helen: Planetarien. Wunder der Technik – Techniken des Wunderns. Wallstein 2024.

Battaglia, Debbora (Hg.): E.T. Culture. Anthropology in Outerspaces. Durham/ London 2005.

Geppert, Alexander C. T. (ed.): Imagining Outer Space. European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century. Basingstoke 2012.

Geppert, Alexander C. T.: European Astrofuturism, Cosmic, Provincialism: Historicizing the Space. In: ders. (Hg.): Imagining Outer Space. European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century. London 2018, S. 3-28.

Herrmann, Hans-Christian von/ Suzuki, Kohei/ Goesl, Boris (Hg.): Zum Planetarium: Wissensgeschichtliche Studien. Paderborn 2018.

McMahon, Matthew McMahon/ Raposo, Pedro M. P./ Damil, Mike/ Boyce-Jacino, Katherine (Hg.): 100 Years of Planetaria. 100 Stories of People, Places, and Devices. Cham 2024.

Messeri, Lisa: Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds. Durham/ London 2016.

Salazar, Juan Francisco/ Gorman, Alice (Hg.): The Routledge Handbook of Social Studies of Outer Space. London/ New York 2023.

Sonderheft der Anthropology Quaterly 85 (2012), H. 4, hrsg. von Debbora Battaglia/ David Valentine/ Valerie A. Olson: “Extreme: Humans at Home in the Cosmos“ URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/26306/print

Sonderheft der Technikgeschichte 84 (2017), H. 4, hrsg. von Alexander C. T. Geppert und Tilmann Siebeneichner „Berliner Welträume im frühen 20. Jahrhundert“. DOI: https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0040-117X-2017-4/tg-technikgeschichte-jahrgang-84-2017-heft-4?page=1

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 27.07.2026 09:26