How are global capital and world politics linked under the smoke screen of attempts to “improve” the world? What role do exclusive meetings of the rich and powerful such as the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos play in this? On the occasion of Rimini Protokoll’s production Weltzustand Davos (State 4), which he helped shape as one of five “experts of the everyday”, the sociologist Ganga Jey Aratnam examines the history, background, and networks of the global players’ WEF. A contribution in excerpts. To article...
How do laws, case law, and historical power relations influence the potential for the emergence of new musical forms? According to the thesis of this essay from Mel Stanfill, the copyright dispute over the song “Blurred Lines” (2013) from Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and Clifford Harris Jr., which an American court found to be a plagiarism of the song “Got to Give It Up” from Marvin Gaye from 1977 demonstrates that: The legal position is one side; case law, determined by subjective factors as well as historical conditions, is another. To article...
The artist Ulrike Ottinger experienced Paris during the 1960s, in times of radical political, social, and cultural upheavals. Her current film Paris Calligrammes (2019) is devoted to this time in her life, looking back at personal encounters and utopias. Literary scholar Aleida Assmann introduces us to Ottinger’s showcase of historical archival material and her own film works from Paris. To article...
Antony T. Anghie writes about an enduring idea that shapes international law. 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...
