Prominence is increasingly gaining value in the media. Daily, stars and starlets adorn newspaper headlines or TV programs. Under the heading of “Celebrity Culture – Stars in Media Socie-ty”, this year’s Colloquium Fundamentale of ZAK I Center for Applied Cultural Science and Studium Generale of KIT will focus on prominence. The opening lecture on Thursday, November 4, 2010, 18.00 hrs, will be presented by Professor Georg Franck, author of the book “Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit” (economy of attention).
Stars and VIPs dominate all areas of society from entertainment to sports and from economy, science, and politics to culture. Daily reporting in the media cannot be imagined without them. Moreover, media increasingly use celebrities to bind recipients. The signifi-cance of the person is frequently backed out by the person’s pres-ence in the media. But how do such strategies of prominencing work? Why is the private life of Boris Becker or Sivlio Berlusconi worth a message?
These and other questions will be addressed by the Colloquium Fundamentale in the 2010/2011 winter semester, which will be or-ganized in cooperation with ZKM I Center for Art and Media Tech-nology Karlsruhe. Renowned lecturers will discuss various aspects of prominence in a changing media culture. Topics like scandal re-porting, casting society or celebrities on the web 2.0 will be in the focus.
In his opening lecture entitled “Celebrities: The Elite of the Society?”, Professor Georg Franck, Technical University of Vienna, will deal with this subject from a socio-cultural point of view and question the phenomenon of stars and starlets in the context of elite and popu-lism. He assumes that humans increasingly strive for attention rather than power and money. Georg Franck studied philosophy, architec-ture, and economics. After long years of practical work as an archi-tect and entrepreneur, he has increasingly studied social and esthetic aspects of the media society since 1994. He became known by his book “Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit” (economy of attention).
Prof. Georg Franck (Foto: Franck)
The Colloqium Fundamentale will take place every two weeks on Thursday, 18.00 hrs, at the NTI-Hörsaal, building 30.10, Engesser-straße 5. Admission will be free. Parallel to the lectures, ZKM will present the exhibition “Celebrity – The One & The Many” of the artist couple Elmgreen & Dragset until March 2011. The Colloqium Fun-damentale will be completed by a podium discussion on Thursday, January 27, 2011, at ZKM.
Other Dates and Lecturers of the Series:
November 11, 2010: Private Life in Public Communication – Scandal Reporting about Stars and Starlets
Prof. Dr. Christian Schicha, Mediadesign, University of Berlin
November 25, 2010: Changing Use of Media
Prof. Dr. Lothar Mikos, Film and Television University „Konrad Wolf“, Potsdam
December 02, 2010: Fixed Stars and Shooting Stars. The Relation-ship of Expert Competence and Image in Politics.
Prof. Dr. Hans Mathias Kepplinger, University of Mainz
December 09, 2010: The Casting Phenomenon in the Media Society
Dr. Wolfgang Krischke , University of Hamburg
December 16, 2010: The Felt Fame. On the Power of Emotions in the Casting Show Era
Prof. Dr. Katrin Döveling, Technical University of Dresden
January 13, 2011: R.I.P.: On the Media Deaths of Stars on YouTube, Vimeo, and Flickr
Prof. Dr. Birgit Richard, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
January 27, 2011: Podium Discussion: Celebrity as a Cultural Con-struct between Media and Public
Prof. Dr. Christoph Jacke, University of Paderborn, Dr. Martina Schuegraf, University of Film and TV, Potsdam, Alrun Seifert, Media Scientist and casting assistant of the UFA Film and TV Productions, Michael Elmgreen, artist, Ingar Dragset, artist.
Further information: www.zak.kit.edu
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