The Observation of God
From left to right: Two men and a woman at a table. She talks, keeping a pencil in her right hand. On the table name tags. In the background is 'Picasso / Braque' to read.
Constructions and Consequences of the Monotheism
Fri, May 16, 2014 – Sat, May 17, 2014, Symposium

Conventional knowledge today shifts cultural, political or psycho-political observations of religion into the focus of its interests. By contrast, and modelled on Niklan Luhmann’s »Basteleien am Gottesbegriff«, the speakers dedicate their contributions to observations-theoretical dimensions relating to the problem of God.

In a panel discussion, participants enquire into the status of transcendence in the age of total immanence. They enquire into the status of »reality« following the revocation of the twin reality of religion, and define similarities and differences among the three great monotheisms. They pursue, furthermore, questions relating to the specific attributes of violence as these are variously expressed in the different religions − they scrutinize the abstract-media violence of secular Christian-Western society and the fundamentalist violence of pre-secular societies. They address question pertaining to the afterlife of religion in culture, and the search for an idea of eschatology in post-historical interpretation. The speakers will conclude by discussing a general, post-religious observation theory (Dirk Baecker), which may, perhaps, converge with an idea of theopoetics (Peter Sloterdijk).

In addition to the lectures and discussion groups, the theoretical film »L’Occhio di Dio« by Christian Matthiessen, as well as the theory installation »Jacques Derrida: Above All: No Journalists!« will be presented.
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Program

Friday, May 16, 2014

4 pmPeter Sloterdijk: »Götterdämmerung« [Twilight of the Gods]
5 pmPeter Weibel: »Technologische Transzendenz«
6 pm

Johannes Hoff und Bazon Brock:
»Theotechnologie und Unbeobachtbarkeits-Beobachtungen«

7 pmDiscussion
8 pmFilm screening »L'Occhio di Dio«
A theory film by Christian Matthiessen

 

Saturday, May 17, 2014

10 amSiegrid Weigel: »Vortrag zu Wagner, gelesen bei Benjamin
Um das Sourveränitätskonzept im »Ring« (den entscheidungsunfähigen Gott)
und um die Erlösung von der Erlösung durch Musik«
11 amChristina von Braun: »Die Aufklärung als Eingang des Menschen
in ein selbstverschuldetes Christentum«
12 pmRudolf Stichweh: »Religion als globale Kategorie«
3 pmNorbert Bolz: »Das Systemwidrige geschieht«
4 pm»Jacques Derrida: Above All: No Journalists!«
Theorie-Installation der Jackson Pollock Bar
5 pmJohannes Hoff: »Orthodoxie nach dem Ende totaler Immanenzsimulation«

6 pm 

»Transzendenz im Zeitalter totaler Immanenz«
Podiumsdiskssion mit Dirk Baecker, Sigrid Weigel, Christina von Braun, Rudolf Stichweh, Johannes Hoff, Norbert Bolz
Organization / Institution
ZKM
Partners

In Cooperation with Institut für Soziale Gegenwartsfragen Freiburg and SWR2 Kultur