Equity@Bauhaus: Archive

SESSION 1 - 08 MAY 2023
THE EXIT OF SILICON VALLEY: 'SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST'
Time: 18:00-19:30 h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Guest: Dr. Laura Hille (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
Abstract: Hille will introduce "The Silicon Valley Ideology" and illustrate how contemporary tech solutionism and disruptive politics are shaping our visions of the future - a future that looks dark. The end of Silicon Valley is heralded. Myths about self-made billionaires and legends of individual geniuses are being dismantled and Big Tech is experiencing one of the biggest critical backlashes of the last decades. Tech billionaires are not only fleeing the Californian Bay Area for Austin or Texas, but they are planning for more fundamental exits: Establishing self-governed floating city states through Seasteading, surviving the environmental apocalypse in New Zealand or societal struggles in secretive bunkers, promising new civilizations on Mars or in Virtuality as well as investing in biotechnology, which envisions to end nothing less than death itself.

SESSION 2 - 15 MAY 2023
RACE AND GENDER IN TV AND FILM PRODUCTIONS: CLICHÉS, STEREOTYPES AND MICROAGGRESSIONS
Time: 18:00-19:30 h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Guest: Arpana Aischa Berndt (Author of scripts, narrative, and poetry
Abstract: Berndt will discuss the importance of dealing with racial and sexual discrimination critically in tv and film productions and the inclusion of marginalized perspectives. She will also explain the necessity of an intersectional approach to anti-discrimination in creative work. For this, she will present examples from the film industry, her own experiences as a scriptwriter, sensitivity reader, and consultant for film and serial productions. She will finally discuss questions of representation in the development processes of films and series and how to challenge clichés, stereotypes and microaggressions in order to write more sensitively and with and about people who face discrimination.

SESSION 3 - 22 MAY 2023
ANTI-RACIST PRACTICES IN MEDIA STUDIES
Time: 18:00-19:30 h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Guest: Prof. Dr. Jiré Emine Gözen (University of Europe)
Abstract: Gözen will examine how racist and racializing structures and traditions of thought intersect with the university as an institution. She will also analyse the ongoing debates surrounding academic freedom, which are currently being exploited by the political right to control the narrative. Moreover, she will offer insights from a media studies perspective on how anti-racist practices can be integrated into academia.

SESSION 4 - 05 JUNE 2023
IT SECURITY AND THE AIDS CRISIS: ON INSECURE CHANNELS AND QUEER SAFETY
Time: 18:00-19:30 h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Guest: Dr. Mary Shnayien  (Universität Paderborn)
Abstract: Shnayien will provide an outline of the history of IT security and how it is interwoven with mainstream notions of security developed during the AIDS crisis. Furthermore, she will introduce the notions of negative security and queer safety to shed light on current practices in IT security as well as possible future modes of security and safety that recognize insecurity as a condition of a more inclusive form of safety in digital cultures.

SESSION 5 - 19 JUNE 2023
VIDEO GAMES AND DIS/ABILITY: EN-/DISABLING MODES OF DIGITAL GAMING
Time: 18:00-19:30 h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Guest: Prof. Dr. Beate Ochsner (Universität Konstanz)
Abstract: Ochsner will start with a contextualization of the notion of medial participation as a central problem of our contemporary digital culture, and then move to the topic of media/disability studies interface using gaming as an example.

SESSION 6 - 03 JULY 2023
MEN IN BLACK AND THE CONSIDERATION OF THE OTHER
Time: 18:00-19:30 h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Guest: Arijit Bhattacharyya (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar)
Abstract: Bhattacharyya will examine the science fiction film Men in Black through the lens of plural co-existence in the context of the climate catastrophe. By analyzing the film's portrayal of (multi-species) genocide as a strategy to preserve human supremacy within a capitalist and colonial framework, he will further explore the intricate relationship between human dominance, environmental degradation, and the marginalization of human and non-human species. The lecture aims to foster critical thinking and generate discussions on the urgent need for transformative approaches that challenge prevailing power structures and embrace a more inclusive, sustainable future.

The lecture series »Equity at Bauhaus II: Media Edition« explores new impulses at the intersection between digitalization and sustainability in its ecological and social dimensions, including gender, media, and cultural and ethnic theories and practices. We need to reshape and rethink how we will coexist in the future as well as how we work and learn collectively. How can we use the environmental, social, and digital challenges to shape fair and sustainable transformation processes?

The digital transformation offers a unique opportunity not only to develop sustainable policies and modes of living, but also to reflect on diversity, inclusion, gender equality, and theories and practices of race and ethnicity. From a decolonial and intersectional perspective, we will discuss the role of digitalization in environmental, social and governance issues and start a dialogue to ensure that digital technology becomes a driving force for a better quality of life for everyone now and into the future.

The interdisciplinary series has been organised together with Dr. Irina Kaldrack (Lectureship Society and Digialization).

SESSION 1 - 10 November 2022 (German)
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE: HOW DO WE WANT TO LIVE TOGETHER?
Time: 18-19:30h
Venue: Kasseturm, Goetheplatz 10
Format: Lecture and Discussion
Guest: Prof. Dr. Sabine Hark (TU Berlin) - »Den Geistern folgen. Epistemische Gewalt und die Aufgabe der Kritik?« (»Following Ghosts: Epistemic Violence and the Task of Criticism?«).

Abstract: Drawing on theory, literature and music, this lecture performance seeks to explore the relationship between knowledge and domination and to redefine the tasks of criticism. The lecture performance takes as its starting point the consideration that domination is not only dependent on knowledge, but it also functions as a form of knowledge. Indeed, it is the knowledge-based matrices of perception, reasoning, evaluation and action that, embedded in our habitus, make us understand both the world and ourselves in terms of domination. The world is given to us to see. The world is just as it is: hierarchically ordered, organised according to the legitimacy of the given limits of the human, divided into chosen and unchosen.

SESSION 2 - 17 November 2022 (English)
THE ART OF NATURE: QUEER FEMINIST ECOLOGIES AND ECOJUSTICE IN ART
Time: 18-19:30h
Venue: Kasseturm, Goetheplatz 10
Format: Round table
Guest: Dr. Lorena Juan (Artist, Berlin) - »The queer feminist art collective COVEN BERLIN and the ecosystem bog as a metaphor for the queer community«. 

Abstract: In her contribution, Lorena Juan will advocate against systemic violence and inequality and for collective political reassessments, emotional and social sustainability through the example of the queer feminist art collective COVEN BERLIN. Founded in 2013, the collective was formed when some queers answered a Craigslist ad. The group nurtures cultural work, in Berlin and online, in the form of embodied affective research and digital hybrid curatorial approaches, always with a breath of humour. Formats of digital and analogue life merge in the process. She will explain what the ecosystem bog as a metaphor for the queer community has to do with this, based on the analogue-digital-multimedia project "Year of a Bog".

SESSION 3 - 08 December 2022 (English)
ARCHITECTURAL UTOPIAS: FEMALE JOURNEYS NOW AND THEN
Time: 18-19:30h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Format: Film Screening and discussion with the director
Guest: Wendelien van Oldenborgh (Hfk Bremen), Screening of the film Two Stones (2019) and discussion with the director.

Abstract: The session will consist of screening of van Oldenborgh's film Two Stones followed by a discussion with the film director. The Russian-English language documentary compares the trajectories of German architect and city planner Lotte Stam-Beese and Caribbean Dutch political activist Hermina Huiswoud. The film focuses on two collective housing projects of Stam-Beese: One in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1930s and the other in the suburbs of Rotterdam in the 1950s. The journeys of both women intersect with Huiswoud's protests in the 1970s on the Rotterdam housing rule that forbade Caribbean Dutch citizens to exceed 5% of the population in a city's district. The film recounts, among other things, how people live there then and how they live there now; their political concerns at the time; and which spaces were thought for women.

SESSION 4 - 12 January 2023 (English)
IS UNIVERSITY A PLACE FOR EVERYONE? RE-MAPPING A SPATIALLY AND SOCIALLY ACCESSIBLE CAMPUS
Time: 18-19:30h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Format: Workshop
Guest: Dr. Dagmar Pelger (Udk Berlin) - »Mapping of physical and social barriers on campus and adjacent areas of the Bauhaus University Weimar«.

Abstract: Pelger will open with an introduction of mapping methods as collaborative design tools as well as carto-ethnographic analytical practices in the fields of architecture and urban planning. Together with students and guests, Pelger will map existing barriers on campus and adjacent areas of the Bauhaus University Weimar. We will not just focus on physical barriers for people with disabilities, but also on social and spatial barriers in the campus community.

SESSION 5 - 19 January 2023 (English)
DECOLONIZING THE CITY: INTERSECTIONALITY AND SPACE
Time: 18-19:30h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Format: Round table
Guest: Niloufar Tajeri  (TU Berlin) - »Intersectionality and space: A critique of built architectural practices«.

Abstract: Tajeri has worked on racism, migrant experiences in European cities, and the production of knowledge and identities in the context of architecture and sustainable planning processes. As for the topic of the talk, we will discuss the question of intersectionality and space. She will introduce colonial and decolonial epistemologies and then we will focus on examples in urban space and problematize them within the framework of intersectionality and space and architecture. It will be a critique of built architectural practice.

SESSION 6 - 26 January 2023 (English)
DOES TECHNOLOGY BRING EQUALITY? DE-GENDERING TECHNOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS
Time: 18-19:30h
Venue: Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8A
Format: Round table
Guest: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl. Math. Corinna Bath (TU Braunschweig) - »Towards (Gender) Just Technological Artifacts and Intelligent Technology. Analyses, Methods, Case Studies«.

Abstract: Bath will identify gendering processes in products, theories, and assumptions of technological artifacts in order to propose technology design methods, which aim at de-gendering technology. For example, in the 1990s language recognition systems were being developed and were tested only with male voices; the system could not even recognise female voices. Or seat belts in cars, which were not designed for the needs of pregnant women. Important questions are: Is technology neutral? What are dimensions and mechanisms of gendering technological artifacts? How can we avoid a perpetuation of the existing gendered order? What does a (gender) neutral technology look like?

SESSION 7 - 02 February 2023 (English)
HATE MEDIA: RACISM AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Time: 18-19:30h
Venue: Bauhaus.Atelier (Info Schop Café), Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 8
Format: Round table
Guest: Prof. Dr. Jiré Emine Gözen  (University of Europe) - »Racism and Academic Freedom«.

Abstract: Gözen will deal with racism masquerading as academic freedom. Gözen will address how racism is often embedded in our philosophy of thinking and what we can do as scholars and students so that academia is not abused by the extreme right-wing. We will discuss examples and find mechanisms to deal with such cases, particularly in media studies. 

Due to possible Covid-19 restrictions in winter, the number of seats may be limited.

»Equity at Bauhaus« is an open format to discuss urgent questions of our present: How can we live and learn together carefully and justly - in the world and at the university? How do we conceive, plan, and shape spaces, processes, relationships, and knowledge for the planet and the survival of all its creatures? What sustainable and holistic transformation processes in the domains of living, learning, moving, and managing do we set in motion, and what do we need to that aim?

Our artistic, design, technical, and scientific 'survival skills' are receiving new impulses from gender, cultural, and ethnic theories and practices. We address these with a decolonial and intersectional view in a series of lectures and workshops. The recurring event will take place at the intersection of the environmental debate and feminism, queer theory, race, inclusion, and equality, in relation to the areas of study at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

The interdisciplinary series has been organised together with Prof. Dr. Mona Mahall (Professorship Presentation Methodology in Design).