Transmission in Motion

Seminar Blogs

“The Language of Serendipity” – Hannah Harder

The authors of “Interdisciplinary Research Boosted by Serendipity,” (2014) describe the concept of serendipity, or unplanned discovery, as productive in interdisciplinary endeavors. Allowing for serendipitous discovery is not only facilitated through an open mind, but one that has the cognitive and creative drive to draw connections between seemingly disparate events (Darbellay, Moody, Sedooka & Steffen…

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“Science-fictionalizing Contemporary Visual Epistemologies: What Might Projection Technologies of the Future Look Like?” – Danny Steur

In “Next Slide Please,” Jennifer Eisenhauer discusses a genealogy of image projection technologies: the magic lantern, the optical lantern and the nowadays omnipresent PowerPoint (2006, 199, 211). Or, more accurately: Eisenhauer dives into the discourses surrounding, and the visual epistemologies belonging to, these projection technologies, which have shifted from magic vision (the magic lantern used…

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“Phantasmagoria Aesthetics: How Knowledge, Communication, and the Spectacle Operate in the Horror Genre” – Naomi Tidball

Frank Kessler, Jamilla Notebaard, and Nico de Klerk’s presentation, enlightened seminar listeners on the history of the Magic Lantern, and how the magic lantern was a (light-)source in transmitting knowledge to students. It is also worth noting, the magic lantern’s use for the spectacle; at the end of the 18th century, phantasmagoria shows were “illuminated…

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“Using Slide Shows Asks for Reconsideration” – Justyna Jakubiec

Trying to imagine studying and working without slide shows in the background might prove to turn into a highly challenging quest. That is especially valid nowadays, considering the ongoing pandemic that makes quite a significant number of people stay in their homes. Perhaps that certainty and obviousness characterizing our approach to slide shows somehow overshadow…

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“Human-Technology Assemblages” – Anthony Nestel

In her article “Next Slide Please: The Magical, Scientific, and Corporate Discourses of Visual Projection Technologies” (2006) Jennifer F. Eisenhauer strips technological entities from a pre-determined, fixed meaning. According to Eisenhauer, “technology acquires meaning through a complex series of relations” (Eisenhauer 2006, 198-199). By means of a genealogy of slide projection technologies, Eisenhauer eloquently demonstrates…

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“Disciplining Perception Through Technology” – Hannah Harder

Jennifer Eisenhauer’s work “Next Slide Please: The Magical, Scientific, and Corporate Discourses of Visual Projection Technologies” (2006) shows how material technology takes on meaning through complex relationships. We can see how discourse changes in historic and cultural contexts such as with the magic or scientific lantern. What interests me is the way that vision seems…

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