CfP/CfA Veranstaltungen

GSA-Panel 2023: Beyond our grasp: Representing Hyperobjects in German-language Works, Montreal (03.03.2023)

Beginn
05.10.2023
Ende
08.10.2023
Deadline Abstract
03.03.2023

Beyond our grasp: Representing Hyperobjects in German-language Works

The introduction of the concept of the Anthropocene by Paul Crutzen in 2000 (or ‘Capitalocene’ as suggested by Jason Moore, Donna Haraway et al.) has raised awareness of the immense impact that human activity has on a planetary scale. It has challenged not only individuals, but society as a whole, to ask how this impact can be transformed into one that is less exploitative, violent, and disruptive to the biosphere. As a concept that forces us to perceive the world differently, it has also had a great impact on aesthetics and how we think of the relationship between art and world: the dominant models of representation seem obsolete in our present, while new ones are not yet fully conceptualized.

This panel seeks to investigate modes of representation for what recent ecocritical scholarship calls “hyperobjects”—phenomena such as global warming, capitalism, nuclear weaponry, evolution, or the biosphere itself that challenge or exceed human perception and inherited modes of cognition. In their relative permanence and complexity, these phenomena defy our ability to “see” or “grasp” them in their totality and therefore demand new forms of reasoning and representation, if we are to counter the superstition, polarization, and denial they inspire. 

We suggest that the notion of ‘unstageability’ as it runs through contemporary and historical discussions of theatre—whether in the context of the relationship between text and performance, the genres of Lesedrama, invisible theatre, or philosophical drama—connects productively to these questions of representation and meaning-making currently posed in the context of ecocriticism, new materialism, and posthumanism. In proposing to expand its scope to include emergent modes of representation that treat the issue of the hyperobject’s insensibility, we can think ‘unstageability’ beyond a conservative critique of experimental practices or forms, or its affirmation as an intervention that keeps aesthetic institutions like theatre or the museum from stagnating, and instead examine its potential as an aesthetic strategy for addressing the crisis of meaning, with its pressing questions of scale and of categories such as time and space, raised by hyperobjects. 

We invite contributions that explore how German-language works across historical periods and genres offer insight into the project of reimagining representation for the Anthropocene along these ecocritical and political lines.  

Please send a 250-500 word abstract and short biography to Megan Ewing (mewing@umich.edu) and Teresa Kovacs (tekovacs@iu.eduby March 3, 2023. Also, feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

Quelle der Beschreibung: Information des Anbieters

Forschungsgebiete

Literatur aus Deutschland/Österreich/Schweiz, Ecocriticism, Literatur und Soziologie, Literatur und Kulturwissenschaften/Cultural Studies, Literatur und Philosophie, Gattungspoetik, Drama allgemein

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Ansprechpartner

Datum der Veröffentlichung: 16.02.2023
Letzte Änderung: 16.02.2023