Universität Wien

170739 UE "The right to have rights" (2023W)

Video art in the context of current political discourses

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 17 - Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft
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. 30 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Participation in all sessions is mandatory. Exceptions can only be agreed upon in good time. Current information will be sent via email.

  • Saturday 14.10. 09:45 - 14:45 Digital
  • Saturday 18.11. 09:45 - 17:15 Seminarraum 2 2H415 UZA II Rotunde
  • Sunday 19.11. 09:45 - 17:15 Seminarraum 2 2H415 UZA II Rotunde

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Hannah Arendt took a critical look at the contemporary understanding of human rights, especially in Elements and Origins of Total Domination. In order to have rights, according to Hannah Arendt, a human being must be more than just a human being, namely a member of a political community, because only as such a member can an individual have enforceable rights to education, work, elections, health care, culture (etc. ) enjoy. The seminar will deal with video art from the last 20 years (including works by Halil Altindere, Yael Bartana, Hito Steyerl) and explore the question of how these works attempt to expand current political discourses with a wide variety of artistic strategies. The focus is on questions of documentary aesthetics, testimony and political performativity as aspects of a current media archive. The seminar offers an interdisciplinary interface between film, video, performance, conceptual art and cultural studies.

Assessment and permitted materials

The input presentation (10 min.) should take up questions from the seminar and put them up for discussion in the plenum. English language skills for reading texts and understanding of the artistic works, some of which are in English, are a prerequisite for participating in the seminar. The results of the discussion should be recorded in a kind of thesis paper (to be handed in directly at the end of the seminar). Participation in writing exercises is also mandatory.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Input presentation in the seminar and research on an artistic work and/or a cultural studies text (70%). Active participation in the discussions in the seminar and in the form of writing exercises (30%).

Examination topics

The artistic works inspire the analysis of the scientific texts and provide interpretation possibilities for a contextualization of the questions raised in the texts. In each case, the focus is on an analysis of the text and the work, which includes aspects of content, aesthetics and form.

Reading list

CAMP Center for Art on Migration Politics (2017), We shout and shout, but no one listens: Art from conflict zones, Kopenhagen.
Genfer Flüchtlingskonvention (1951), Abkommen über die Rechtsstellung der Flüchtlinge vom 28. Juli 1951.
Jaar, Alfredo u.a., "One Million German Passports“ (2023), Zeitung zur Installation des Künstlers Alfredo Jaar in der Pinakothek der Moderne, München mit Beiträgen von internationalen Expert:innen, Wissenschaftler:innen und Schriftsteller:innen.
Kuster, Brigitta, Tsianos, Vassilis S. (2019), Erase them! Eurodac and Digital Deportability. https://transversal.at/pdf/journal-text/293/
Meyer, Katrin (2016), Macht und Gewalt im Widerstreit: Politisches Denken nach Hannah Arendt, Schwabe Verlag.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 28.08.2023 11:27