With good reason, the 20th century has been described as the century of the avant-gardes, regarding its aesthetic and even some of its political and scientific manifestations. While the historical avant-gardes (approx. 1910-1930) have received a good deal of theoretical attention, the post-war neo-avant-garde is still awaiting a thorough reappraisal of all its transdisciplinary and transnational aspects.

In the wake of the historical avant-garde, the neo-avant-garde undermined genre distinctions (especially those between essay, prose, and poetry) and distinctions between literature and non-literature (other media, arts, etc.). This complex mix challenges the extant textual methods for analysis, such as narratology and poetry analysis.

In 2016 a network of literary scholars from Belgium, France and Austria was set up to shed light on the European neo-avant-garde (ENAG) and discuss its transnational dynamics in biannual workshops. One central aim is to develop a methodology and a toolbox that match the experimental strategies of the texts under scrutiny.

The workshop will address theoretical and methodological issues: Canonical theoretical texts on neo-avant-garde (Theodor W. Adorno, Peter Bürger, Hal Foster) will be used to re-read canonical texts of the respective neo-avant-gardist manifestations (Ivo Michiels, Kenneth Goldsmith, Peter Weiss, Konrad Bayer, Andreas Okopenko, Oswald Wiener, etc.). The objective of this endeavor is twofold: (i) to reassess the respective artworks in relation to prevalent theories and (ii) to correct and amend the theories where it seems appropriate.

Program:

Thu, 6th April, 2017

Campus Altes AKH, Court 2.8, Old Chapel, 1090 Vienna

13:00 – 18.30

Lars Bernaerts: On Ivo Michiels
Lieselot De Taeye: On Collage & Montage
Thomas Eder: On Oswald Wiener
Roland Innerhofer, Georg Oberhumer: On Konrad Bayer



Fri, 7th April, 2017

Literaturmuseum, Grillparzerhaus, 6 Johannesgasse, 4th floor, 1010 Wien

10:00 – 14:00

Vincent Broqua: On Kenneth Goldsmith
Inge Arteel: On Peter Weiss
Desiree Hebenstreit, Laura Tezarek: On Andreas Okopenko

A collaboration of ENAG, Verein Neugermanistik and the Department for German Studies at the University of Vienna

Funded by: Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies of the University of Vienna, Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)

Admission free, please register at: christian.zolles@univie.ac.at

See also: enag.be