Experiencing Atmospheres: Dimensions of a Diffuse Phenomenon

“Atmospheres” are omnipresent, both as a natural scientific fact as well as in interpersonal relations and as a socio-cultural phenomenon: climate and air as habitat, social atmospheres in family, at work and during leisure time, as well as medially-generated atmospheres in mass media, in physical spaces such as shopping centers, wellness oases and in art – we are surrounded by different kinds of atmosphere. However, these are not simply ›there‹ or arise in certain areas; they can also subliminally influence social processes, as can be presently observed in various crises phenomena the origins of which – such as in the financial crisis – are to be found, last but not least, in diffuse atmospheric changes and manipulations.
Thus, atmospheres manifest themselves in all spheres of life. However, they are phenomena that evolve through the interaction of various factors: they can arise between subjects and objects (such as in art); they are instable, and can rapidly alter their character, while several types of atmospheres may overlap with each other. Above all else, they are less reflectively acknowledged than emotionally and unconsciously sensed and experienced, for which reason they are considered as diffuse. For this reason, determining their composition is no easy task.
This interdisciplinary conference, dedicated to the various dimensions of atmospheres and the experience of them, is designed to bring together the key protagonists of prior research in the subject and young scholars into dialog. Counting among the guests will be key representatives of philosophical and media-theoretical research on the theme of atmospheres, such as Peter Sloterdijk, Hermann Schmitz, Gernot Böhme and Peter Weibel, together with representatives from the fields of physics, psychology, media and literary studies, economics as well as a younger generation of philosophers.
 

Program

Fri, June 03, 2011

Welcome address at 6 p.m.
Evening lecture by Peter Sloterdijk Karlsruhe “Alumni of the Air. Reflections on a Pneumatic Anthropology”
 

Sat, June 04, 2011

9.30 a.m. Introduction by Christiane Heibach Karlsruhe
9.45–10.45 a.m. Keynote Lecture by Hermann Schmitz Kiel “Atmospheric Spaces”
10.45–11.00 a.m. coffee break
11.00–12.30 p.m.
“Atmospheres from a Natural Scientific Perspective” Dim Coumou Potsdam
“Searching Motions of the Mind in Contextual Space: Remedial Atmospheres”
Hinderk Emrich Hannover
12.30 p.m.–1 p.m. discussion
1 p.m.–2 p.m. midday break
2 p.m.–3 p.m. “Electronic Atmospheres” Peter Weibel Karlsruhe
“Gesamtkunstwerk Atmospheric: On the Atomization of Pixels in Intermediality”
Anke Finger Storrs/USA
3.30 p.m.– 4 p.m. coffee break
4 p.m.–5 p.m. “The Theory of the Experience of Atmospheres in Open Urban and Closed Spaces” Heinz Paetzold Kassel
5 p.m.–6 pm discussion
From 6.30 p.m. reception in the ZKM_Foyer, evening program in cooperation with the ZKM
 

Sun, June 05, 2011

9.30 a.m.–10.30 a.m. Keynote Lecture Gernot Böhme Darmstadt “Manufacturing Atmospheres”
10.30 a.m.–10.45 a.m. coffee break
10.45 a.m.–12.15 p.m. “My Genius Lies in my Nostrils” – Sketches of an Epistemology of Scent
Marc Jongen Karlsruhe
“Manipulative Atmospheres: Between Immediate Experience and Medial Construction”
Christiane Heibach Karlsruhe
12.15 p.m.–12.45 p.m. discussion
12.45 p.m.–2 p.m. midday break
2 p.m.–3.30 p.m. “Breaking News: The Medialized Climate of Permanent
Catastrophe in 'Emergency Design'“ Yana Milev Karlsruhe/Berlin
“Trading during Economic Crises” Uwe Hochmuth Karlsruhe
3.30 p.m.–4 p.m. coffee break
4 p.m.–5.30 p.m. final discussion, moderation: Christiane Heibach / Marc Jongen