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Experimental Speculations / Speculative Experimentations

Europa Universität Viadrina

Experimental Speculations / Speculative Experimentations is a series of masterclasses that are part of the M.A. program Literaturwissenschaft: Ästhetik – Literatur – Philosophie at the Europa Universität Viadrina, organized by Melanie Sehgal, Professor for Literature, Science and Media Studies. The idea for this program is to invite practitioners working at the crossroads of theory, the sciences, and the arts to discuss the relation between the experiential and the speculative in their work. The aim is to extract concrete methods of speculative thinking, as well as the issues that call for speculative thinking today and thereby develop speculation as a method for critical thinking.

Long proscribed from modern discourse, there is currently a renewed interest in the speculative. On the one hand, in the humanities, this revival can be attributed to the limits of purely semiotic and language-oriented analysis. On the other hand, it can be read as a response to the challenges posed by current political and ecological crises, which put fundamental categories and assumptions of modern thought into question, first and foremost being the categorical separation of nature and culture. The impetus for this series of masterclasses is the conjecture that, in view of the problems which compel different modes of thought today, scientific, philosophical, and artistic approaches (despite and even because of their differences) are indispensable. The workshops aim to develop speculation as an experimental and critical practice, which can take on different forms. Artistic, scientific and theoretical practices will be revealed to be speculative methods, and by examining and engaging with each visiting practitioner’s work, the program’s aim is to develop a repertoire of speculative practices. Corresponding to the profile of the M.A. program, the series of masterclasses enables students to form transdisciplinary ideas and questions critically, encompassing developments in art, science, and theory.

Contact Information
Melanie Sehgal, Professor

Europa Universität Viadrina
Große Scharrnstraße 59
Frankfurt (Oder)
Germany, D-15230
Germany
https://www.kuwi.europa-uni.de/de/lehrstuhl/lw/wissensgeschichte/index.html
sehgal@europa-uni.de
+49 3355 55342573

Region
Europe
Western Europe

Academic Program
Ph.D.
M.A.

Year Established
2012