The First World War was by no means “the war to end all wars” it was conceived to be: Anonymous killing and the total removal of boundaries on a technological and bureaucratic war machine are mortgage debts that remain unpaid to this day. According to Jörn Leonhard in his contribution to the project Tatort Schlachtfeld “The victor wasn’t a nation, a state, or an empire, and the First World War’s result wasn’t a world without war. The real victor was war itself.” To article in German...
Does truth exist? And do we still need it? Taking the concept of Négritude as their point of departure Nobel laureate in literature Wole Soyinka and film theorist Manthia Diawara talked about a universal idea and it’s relevance today. A short survey of edition #3 of the Dictionary of Now. To article...
In the second edition of the Dictionary of Now Eyal Weizman, architect turned intellectual activist, meets social historian Dipesh Chakrabarty to talk about the Forum. Vague concepts of morality are useless in dealing with climate change. An efficient FORUM, as Chakrabarty maintains, needs to take up a planetary perspective. To article...
Anthropocene Campus: The Technosphere Issue was an eight-day teaching and learning experiment in which new forms of knowledge production and dissemination were tested. Art and cultural critic Brian Holmes who participated as an instructor reflects on the exemplary model course and its outcomes. To article...
A new component of the Earth system is emerging today, comparable in scale and function to the bio- and hydrosphere: the Technosphere. It is being driven by the intertwining of natural environments with vast socio-technical forces and increasingly diverse technological species. The Technosphere X Knowledge event brought together scientists and artists in cross-disciplinary settings. In the aftermath of this encounter, the writer Adania Shibli reflects on the techniques and practices of knowing, sensing, and experiencing concurrently shaping the Technosphere. To article...
The dystopian video series “The Common Sense” is about “the patch.” Adhered to the palate, this prosthesis transfers the emotions and physical sensations of other people. Leaping through time and space, the video series reveals the far-reaching social changes that the gadget causes – from absolute surveillance at the workplace to a pornographic economy. In this interview artist Melanie Gilligan talks with Bert Rebhandl about devices, TV series and neurosciences. To article...
A conversation with the gramophone expert Ralf Schumacher about buried treasure and fascination with non-electric technology. To article in German...
The Berliner Congress Civil Society 4.0 brought together activists and experts from (among others) Refugee Emancipation, Chaos Computer Club Berlin, metroZones, Refugee Hackathon, United Action, Women in Exile, Refugee Empowerment, and The Voice to ask what happens when “civil” is not limited to citizens, but all those who act politically and publicly: on the street, in institutions, in the media. When we are the state. Not based on nationality, but based on our humanity. To article in German...
A genuine exchange within society is not wanted, this is evident in the treatment of refugees. However, we need a culture of open dialog which accommodates difference and opens up time-spaces for the development of sustainable political strategies. Only the opportunity for active participation in society can prevent the excluded from retreating into particularist communities. To article...
From radio propaganda in Rwanda to torture in Guantanamo Bay, bloodshed accompanied by a soundtrack of reggae during the civil war in Sierra Leone to the calls to battle of the Marseillaise: What does music have to do with war? The cultural anthropologist Angela Dreßler explores this question, and in the process discovers how music is supposed to put fears of another military putsch to rest in war-torn Guinea-Bissau. To article in German...
