June 24, 2015
7pm
Salon of former Palais Dürckheim, Cranachstraße 47, Weimar

Posthumanism and Media Panel Discussion by Mark Hansen and Stefan Herbrechter

The figural and real ‘disappearance’ of the human in contemporary culture is one of the most pressing topics in media and cultural theory. Mark Hansen and Stefan Herbrechter will be discussing the role media have been playing in this ‘posthumanising’ process – from originary forms of human-media entanglement to current computerised and biotechnical environments. How to make sense, in this context, of the emergent cultural discourse of posthumanism with its ambient species angst, proliferating extinction scenarios, biopolitics and ecological thought in the Anthropocene? What role for technology, (media) theory and the (post)humanities are emerging under these conditions. Through a mutual reading of some of their work, Hansen and Herbrechter will first outline and contextualise their respective positions before engaging in a general discussion about the topic with the audience.