Wenzel Mehnert
Dreamscapes of Modernity
Seminar, Deutsch/English, 2 SWS, 2 LP
Montags, 16-18 Uhr, wöchentlich ab 22.10.2018, Grunewaldstr. 2-5, Raum 122

In our dreams, we foresee our futures. In our collective dreamscapes, we store our future imaginaries. Inspired by Jasanoff & Kim (2015) this seminar will deal with the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries, the “collectively held and performed visions of desirable future (or of resistance against the undesirable)“, strongly formed through anticipations of emerging technologies.
In this course we will talk about the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries, read papers from the field of Social and Technology Studies (STS) and learn about the interception of art and emerging technologies, which encourages us to question our own anticipations about our collective future.
Besides theory we will work with ethnographic methods to research collectively held sociotechnical imaginaries. Transforming the research results, we will produce our own imaginaries through short stories about possible futures.

Requirements for participation:In the seminar, we will read scientific papers from the field of science and technology studies and will execute our own ethnographic research. An interest in social science is recommended.

Requirements for the ungraded Studium Generale credit: Each participant will present one of the topics in a short presentation. Each participant will write a Near Future Science Fiction story based on his/her research.

Schwerpunkte:
Ausrichtung der Veranstaltung: orientierend, vorwärtsgewandt
Kompetenz/Aktivität der Teilnehmenden: reflektieren/denken, transformieren

Wenzel Mehnert works as an assistant researcher at the University of the Arts in Berlin. His research interest includes experimental formats of future studies, techno-cultural foresight and the culturally shared imaginaries of the future. He writes his PhD on “speculative foresight methods“ and founded the anticipation lab, an artistic/ethnographic research group that focuses on the field of anticipatory studies. At the UdK he is teaching within the study program GWK (Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftskommunikation) where his focus is on the intersection between ethnographic research and audiovisual-formats/visual anthropology.