KKH Research week 2019

24.1.2019
Lecture, screening & Discussion

Zeynep Akbal – On the connections of the Lived-body and Virtual Body
Abstract: This talk forwards a phenomenology of bodily perception to account for how the virtual body and the lived-body (Leib) incorporate each other in reflexive cycles that mediate presence, perception, and sensation. In my research, I explore the role of corporeality and bodily perception in virtual reality (VR). The attempt to create a sense of presence within physically inaccessible environments has traditionally been via visualization and more recently it has been enriched due to the development of VR technologies. Hence, when we are in an interactive virtual environment, in addition to visual receptors, other sensory modalities of the body have become central for an immersive experience. In my talk I will integrate a phenomenological perspective by taking the notion of lived-body experiences (leibliche Erfahrung) as an essential starting point in this exploration.

Annika Larsson - Work in Progress
Abstract: Shaped as a series of home experiments behind (todays irony and urgency of) closed doors and curtains, the film explores Virtual Reality and its feedback relation to the movements of bodies and minds. What social, bodily and sensory reactions and behaviours are triggered through this technology? What is its relation to suggestion, possession and trance? What potential for surveillance and control hides behind? Could these technological environments be seen as a power of acting via affecting that can no longer cognitively be grasped or controlled by humans? What does it mean to be acting in two spaces at the same time? Are we all becoming delusional? Who are we becoming?

Zeynep Akbal, is PhD student at University of Potsam/Philosophy Faculty and researcher at Max Planck Institute Human Cognition and Brain Sciences. Her research explores Bodily Perception in Virtual Reality.

Annika Larsson, artist, researcher KKH and Professor in Time Based Media HFBK Hamburg. Research project NON-KNOWLEDGE, LAUGHTER AND THE MOVING IMAGE investigating how the Moving Image and the Laughing Body could become agents for new thought, acts, and embodiment The research project is done in collaboration with KKH and HFBK Hamburg.

Isabel Gatzke, research assistant - NON-KNOWLEDGE, LAUGHTER AND THE MOVING IMAGE.
Gatzke has studied multidisciplinary Cultural Studies and Theatre at the University of Hildesheim and works as a dramaturge in different collaborations, lately with the choreographer Anna Aristarkhova. She’s is atttending the master programm Art in Context at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.