Dealing with Fear II
Part 1: The Artist?s Fear of Her-/Himself
Part 2: Fear of New Technologies by the Public

International Symposium at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Solitude 3, 70197
Stuttgart in the framework of the art, science & business program

Initiated by Petros Koumoutsakos, Ingrid Mundry, Philip Ursprung

October 30 to 31, 2008

The recognizability of the artistic author is precondition of the success
in today?s world of culture, although or even because everything seems to
be possible. Only the one who finds his own position ? and is able to hold
it ?, will find his audience. Critique does not forgive changing lanes,
and it does not bestow premature praise. Critique does not want to
commemorate an ?early work? and has no time to wait for a ?late work?. In
addition to the type of artist who wants to be recognizable by
specification, there are those artists who like to keep adapting
themselves by changeability. But while the first type can no longer seek
the ?other? in his/her work, the ?self? is excluded from the second type.
The fear of building an artistic identity, which is too tight or too open,
too easy to confuse with others or outside of conventions, is therefore
always present during the careers of artists. What happens if the criteria
of value change? What if their own image suddenly gets in the way? Is
misconduct in the cultural field ? unlike in politics and economy ?
irreversible?

Fear of new technologies is one of the major phobias since the 1990s,
culminating in the turn of the century when the public was holding its
breath in expectation of a world-wide computer breakdown. Faith in the
future, which inspired people until the 1980s, has been replaced with a
diffuse fear of the future and change. Besides a resistance to the use of
machines, the public is afraid of engineering developments and scientific
research in the fields of nano-technology, nuclear energy, genetic
research, etc. and its possible manipulations and unknown invisible
impacts on the everyday life and future generations. People don not look
at technology as a product of the human intellect ? like music,
literature, philosophy, architecture ? but rather as independent and from
the human nature differentiated reality and, in this sense, as a constant
threat. What are the causes for this cultural fear of technology? How do
scientists deal with this diffuse fear? And how can one create and build
trust as the opposite of fear?

The opening lecture will be held in German, the lectures on Friday are in
English.
Please register with Catharina Märklin (Tel. +49-711-99619-134,
cmakademie-solitude.de).
Free admission.

Program

Thursday, October 30, 2008

8.00 pm
Welcome Remarks by Jean-Baptiste Joly, Director of the Akademie

8.15 pm
»?faire l\'âme monstrueuse?. Production Strategies of Fear in the Artistic
Avant-garde« (in German language)
Thomas Macho, Humboldt-University of Berlin

Moderation by Philip Ursprung, University of Zurich

Friday, October 31, 2008

Section I: »The Artist?s Fear of Her-/Himself«
Moderated by Isabel Mundry, Zurich University of the Arts,
and Philip Ursprung, University of Zurich

9.30 am
Introduction by Jean-Baptiste Joly, Director of the Akademie

9.45 ? 10.30 am
»Misreading ? on a Poetic Strategy to Deal with the Anxiety of Influence«
Maren Rieger, Berne University of the Arts

10.30 ? 11.15 am
»Working from Inside«
Teresa Hubbard, University of Texas at Austin and the Milton Avery
Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, New York

11.15 ? 11.45 am
Coffee Break

11.45 am ? 1.00 pm
»Fear is just Another Word for Someone Left to Please«
Dennis Farber, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
Michael Hutter, Social Science Research Center Berlin

1.00 ? 2.30 pm
Lunch

2.30 ? 3.15 pm
»Am I Victim or Offender? 3 x 3 = ∞
A Musical Theater Project on the Anxieties of the Survivors«
Tina Hartmann, librettist, Stuttgart

3.15 ? 3.45 pm
Coffee Break

Section II: »Fear of New Technologies by the Public«
Moderated by Jean-Baptiste Joly and Julia Warmers, Akademie Schloss Solitude

3.45 ? 4.45 pm
»Carbon Nanotube Sensors«
Christofer Hierold, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

»Nanomedicine: Miracle Medicine or Scary Drugs?«
Kostas Kostarelos, University of London

4.45 ? 5.45 pm
»Space Transportation and Dual Use of Aerospace Technology«
Nikolaus A. Adams, Technical University Munich

»Computing: An Indispensable Friend or Foe?«
Petros Koumoutsakos, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

5.45 pm
Final Discussion

For more information please see our website: www.akademie-solitude.de