GMU:Embodiment Toolkit

Werk/Fachmodul

Lecturer: Christian Doeller

Credits: 6 ECTS, 4 SWS

Times: Thursday 13:30 - 16:30

Venue: Digital Bauhaus Lab, Performance Platform

First meeting: April 18, 13:30

Description:

How can we physically immerse ourselves in the non-human protagonists in our environment? How can we approach otherness and develop empathy, what tools do we need and what can we learn about ourselves in the process?

The seminar "Embodiment Toolkit" is an immersive experiment in which we ourselves become the test objects: we re-enact the role of the Other. The goals of our performative research process are a change of perspective and the exploration of new spaces of experience.

Our starting point are non-human beings, things and technologies from our everyday environment. We explore different speculative strategies to closely observe, describe and systematically analyze these role models. Ultimately, we translate our assumptions into simple guidelines for performative exercises and role plays, which we carry out and evaluate together in the group. We either only act within the limits of our own physiological capabilities or with the help of interactive tools from the world of DIY electronics.

Our weekly meetings mainly consist of performative experiments outside the seminar room; here we attempt to swap roles, and test, document and discuss our ideas and prototypes. On the other hand, we engage with related artistic and theoretical positions. We will get in touch with individual ideas and approaches, for example from the fields of systems theory, embodiment, media- and performance art. The course ultimately aims at the independent conception of interactive performative exercises, which will be carried out together with visitors during the upcoming Summaery exhibition.

This course is open to programming enthusiasts, system thinkers, data collectors and anyone who likes to move, observe, be outdoors and create something together. You do not need to be a performer or extrovert to participate. Requirements for participation: Regular attendance, short presentation on a topic of your choice, conception of a performative exercise, upload of documentation to the GMU media wiki. Open to all disciplines and semesters, no prior knowledge necessary.

Registration by Sunday (April 7) via e-mail, subject "Embodiment Toolkit", with a short letter of motivation (3-4 sentences) to christian.doeller@uni-weimar.de.

Embodiment Toolkit:

Meeting #1

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Participants:

• YOUR NAME HERE
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Schedule:

April 18, 13:30 – 16:30

- first meeting @ DBL - Digital Bauhaus Lab

Topics:

• strategies of observation
  • experience and human perception as data collection processes
  • build your own world by setting a frame
• strategies of analysis
  • formalizing processes, dependencies, relationships in our environment
  • is everything part of a larger system?
  • flow charts, diagrams, schemas as choreography
  • pattern recognition and chaos
• strategies of transformation
  • building on the above to design simple sets of rules for performative exercises
  • algorithmic behavior and human identity
• interactive settings + power relations
• the audience + participation
• iterative learning + design processes
• what is a toolkit and what does it need?

Artists:

• John Cage
• Xavier Le Roy
• Pauline Oliveros
• Jennifer Gabrys
• William Forsythe
• Marina Abramovic
• AND Lab
• Mark Lombardi
• Esther Hovers
• Bambi van Balen
• Anna Oppermann
• Adelheid Mers
• La Monte Young
• Bruce Naumann
• Trisha Brown
• Tino Sehgal
• Isabel Lewis

Literature:

• Erika Fischer Lichte: The Transformative Power of Performance
• Donella Meadows: Thinking in Systems. A Primer
• Ludwig von Bertalaffny: General Systems Theory
• Bruno Latour: An Introduction to Actor Network Theory
• W. Ross Ashby: An Introduction to Cybernetics
• Valentino Breitenberg: Vehicles: Experiments in synthetic psychology
• Donna Haraway: Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective

General References:

• Obsidian
• KNN
• Move Bank (MPI)
• Predator-Prey Equations
• State Machines
• Brownian Motion
• Flocking Simulations
• Swarm Robotics

Language & skill level:

• The module will be held in English, unless all participants are speaking German.
• No prior knowledge is required.
• You do not need to be a performer or an extrovert to participate in this course ;)

Criteria for passing:

• be on time, attend the classes, be active
• present a topic of your choice
• develop a prototype for a collective performance
• document your work and contribute to the Embodiment Toolkit