Christian Kassung

Saxa Loquuntur: The Function of (Multi-)Media for Antique Architecture

Digital reconstructions of historical spaces have become a widespread tool in archaeology. However, these virtual models seek to represent past spaces almost exclusively in a visual way. This dominance of the visual occludes the fact that historical as well as contemporary spaces are characterized by a multitude of sensory experiences. In this paper, we examine the role played by media in reconstructing such sensed spaces while also depicting current interdisciplinary practice from this perspective. Drawing on the history of optics and acoustics, we undertake a critique of archaeological media. Subsequently, we present two case studies for simulations combining visual and aural impressions. The case studies demonstrate technical solutions for virtual models of two historical soundscapes: public assemblies on the Forum Romanum in Rome and on the Pnyx in Athens. Finally, we discuss how these simulations can be used to better understand the multivalent experience and acoustic function of these spaces.

Friedrich A. Kittler, Professor

On the afternoon of 15 July 2011, a sixty-eight-year-old Germanist delivered his final public address. The video posted to YouTube depicts a man of slight size crossing a sparse stage and taking a seat at a flimsy coffee table. His hands tap away at the surface of the table, his eyes dart about the room. When he leans forward, his suit and dress shirt seem to swallow up his meager frame. Amidst the background chatter and the indefinite clearing of throats, an assistant enters the frame from the left, exchanging the cup of water on the table for a glass of dark red wine. The man looks down at the wine and nods twice, affirmatively. That is enough. As if someone had flipped a switch, laughter and applause erupt from the audience, eliciting a bashful smile as well as gestures for calm from the sexagenarian. A simple and effective feedback circuit has transformed addresser and addressee. The frail Germanist becomes Professor Kittler. The disordered crowd of two hundred onlookers, young and old, becomes an audience of rapt students. The lecture may begin. This scene set the stage for the Kittler’s last academic lecture, “Farewell to Sophienstraße,” delivered on the occasion of his retirement from

Self-Writing Machines: Technology and the Question of the Self

In order to show that technology mediates between man and machine, I will discuss in this text a literally other or alter-knowledge system that also heavily relied on self-writing machines: spiritualism. Contrary to scientific knowledge systems, in spiritualism the unforeseen, the singular, and the disturbance is what counts as, and produces, significance. That is the reason why alterconcepts such as spiritualism, esotericism, or occultism are not typically recognized as innovative agencies in the history of knowledge. Hence, what is needed to raise the question of a non-hegemonic knowledge production is a symmetrical approach in the history of technology.