Focal Themes:

The DFG group research project "Theory and History of the Media" is planning a congress for September 1997 in Kassel (Projekt D2 "The Symbolic Order of Signs and Machines", in Kassel, will be mainly responsible for organisational matters). This congress not only coincides chronologically with documenta X (summer 1997 in Kassel), it has also set itself the dual task of documenting the status of research on the DFG-project while at the same time taking up and furthering the discussion of points related to the documenta X concept. A whole series of direct links between documenta X and the DFG-project have already been referred to in a discussion between Catherine David and Paul Virilio ("Der blinde Fleck der Kunst". In: documenta GmbH (ed.), documentaXdocuments 1, Ostfildern-Ruit 1996, pp. 56-67). The issues of the "Disappearance of Art" in the age of the new media, for example, or of "Representation", coincide with the fundamental themes of the DFG group research project. Consequently, the main focus of the planned congress is on the relationship between the media and the arts, whereby the media will also be dealt with from a theoretical and historical viewpoint.
An obvious starting point for the congress discussions is the shift that has taken place with regard to two particular paradigms which were self-evident for art in the nineteenth century. These are the paradigms of "authorship" and "authenticity". A radical alteration in the discourse (for example, in the contemporary thinking of the post-modern era) and above all, technical developments in the media would suggest that these paradigms have lost their validity. That same shift would even seem to question, retrospectively, their former aspiration to validity. Consequently, one should perhaps speak not so much of a loss, as of the elimination of a deception. The symposium lectures and panel discussions proposed for the congress will approach this historical and theoretical problem from various directions.
As the main lectures and panel discussions for the congress are being organised in connection with documenta X, it is of vital importance that they all have a bearing on the exhibitions. The draft programme, therefore, envisages a series of lectures dealing explicitly with issues related to aesthetics and art history (concept: Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schade, Universitaet Bremen). The guided tours of the exhibitions and the panel discussions on themes closely related to documenta X are also aimed at reaching a deeper understanding on specific aspects of documenta X. They will be complemented by other media-related cultural events (films, exhibitions, an Internet café, electronic fora).
In order to do justice to the central theme of the inter-university group project "Theory and History of the Media", that is to say, the relationship between analog and digital media -- or the replacement of the Gutenberg by the Turing galaxy, one integral component of the congress's concept and organisation will be an advance public and processual involvement on the Internet

The congress (symposium and panel discussions) will take place in co-operation with the individual partners participating in the DFG group project "Theory and History of the Media as well as the Fachbereich Kulturwissenschaft of Bremen University (Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schade), the Forum at the Muthesius Hochschule fuer Kunst und Gestaltung in Kiel (Prof. Dr. Hubertus von Amelunxen) and documenta X. There is also a co-operation with "Interfiction", organised by Dr. H. A. Meyer and the Filmladen Kassel and devoted to the theme of "Art and Networking".
The consequences of this for the organisation of the congress are that the main section of the congress will be made up of a block of lectures. The distinctive features and scope of the congress, which in turn are in keeping with the distinctiveness of documenta and its specific concept, demand that the respective main lectures (venue: lecture hall in the Bali cinema, close to the documenta and suitably equipped technically) be accompanied by further discussions related to and expanding on the themes of the congress, albeit with a slightly different emphasis. Some of these additional discussions will take place in parallel. They will all consist of two lectures of 25 - 30 minutes each followed by an open discussion with the panel participants (panel discussions with public access for a limited number of participants in rooms reserved at the university; advance notification of participation required). There will also be special guided tours of documenta X for the congress participants (agreed with the documenta organisers). An accompanying cultural programme for the congress participants will consist of smaller exhibitions and a party. This programme is be to understood as an additional contribution to the documenta X events and not as competition.