“It can walk, yes, but that’s not what it does best. Because a puppet can fly.” Ulrike Quade, theatre-maker, researcher and artistic leader of puppet theatre group Ulrike Quade Company, needs but a single sentence to enthral a room full of theatre students and scholars with her fascination for puppetry. On 29 November 2023,…

  “To build is to destroy,” Charlotte Malterre-Barthes remarked at the beginning of her lecture. This echoes Marxist analyses of capitalist creative destruction. Yet, what non-capitalist potential exists for architects? What do architects do if not build? Malterre-Barthes, along with the research and design laboratory RIOT (Research and Innovation On architecture, urban design and Territory)…

The issue of overbuilding is a critical concern in contemporary society, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable development and environmental conservation. This topic has been passionately discussed by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, whose approach to addressing overbuilding sparked both admiration and controversy in me. Malterre-Barthes, known for her persistence and commitment to environmental issues, adopts a stance…

Upon recalling the latest seminar/workshop on practical enquiry, the case which I found most relatable and familiar is the exhibition thesis Rewinding Internationalism. Both the approach and content of this project triggered my memory of a recent experience visiting the exhibition. Concerning the theme of this exhibition, its materialization and assemblage of ideas echoes the…

  General practice-based research, practice-led research, research creation, creative practice as research, arts-based research, and artistic research together form a cluster of practice-based research paradigms in the humanities. Mick Wilson started his lecture-cum-workshop “How to Know Things with Works: On Practical Enquiry” by naming these various genealogically distinct practices. Yet, in his short lecture, Wilson’s…

With this blog post, inspired by the case study discussed during Mick Wilson’s workshop “How to Know Things with Works: On Practical Enquiry,” I would like to continue the exploration of Harman’s theory of speculative realism (2018) as a lens for a practice-based inquiry into the secret lives of objects. Wilson challenges the participants to…

The concept of acquiring knowledge through practical engagement holds a pivotal role within the realm of media studies. In the pursuit of inquiry, the essence lies not in the mere transcription of knowledge onto paper, but in the active process of acquiring knowledge and the subsequent transformation of this knowledge into shareable and meaningful information….

    To argue for academic freedom, we must first consider what academia is for. What is the inherent value of intellectual work produced from within the humanities? Bruno Latour’s article “Why has critique run out of steam?” provides a point of departure for Professor Berteke Waaldijk in the first seminar of the 2023/2024 Transmission…

  by Kangning Li   The opening seminar for 2023-24 Transmission in Motion opened with a lecture from Dr.Berteke Waaldijk, who addressed the theme of this year’s series ‘Matter of Concern’ by using academic freedom as the entry point. The first part of the lecture began with the introduction of Latour’s concept on the Matter…

    “What do you love,” Prof. Dr. Waaldijk asked. We — the attendants of her lecture on Academic Freedom — discussed. During this short heart-to-heart, I loved hearing what my newly-met colleague loved. Yet, how can we secure space for our loves outside of Waaldijk’s careful lecture? Or, as someone during the Q&A asked:…