Deutsches Haus at NYU presents "A Question of Taste. Colonial Aesthetics, Political Affects, and Taste Tanks" a public lecture and conversation with Ulrike Bergermann, DAAD Visiting Scholar and Professor of Media Studies at the University of Art in Braunschweig, and Katrin Köppert, Assistant Professor for Art History and Popular Cultures at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts.
Taste has a history, or rather many – personal, embodied histories as well as philosophical and colonial histories. A new understanding of taste emerged in the aesthetics of the enlightenment, while colonialism and enslavement provided new experiences of taste and 'having taste'. Following on from this, and with a glance to the euro-american story of cocoa, we might think of a need to not only "decolonize the mind" (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o) but also the senses. With the help of the queerfeminist concept of "Feel Tanks" and current theories of collectivity, taste, and affect, I discuss the idea of "Taste Tanks" for a disruption of the sensible.
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About the participants:
Ulrike Bergermann teaches Media Studies at the University of Art in Braunschweig, Germany. She recieved her PhD in German Literature from the University of Hamburg diecussing sign language notation and its implications for academic knowledge production. Ulrike has been involved in academic organizations like the German Association of Media Studies and the German Research Association DFG, was a founding board member of the Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft, as well as a political activist in her hometown Hamburg. Areas of resarch are Postcolonial, Gender and Queer Studies. Recent publications deal with the colonial history of dinosaurs, Deaf Studies, or the concept of property. The presentation is part of her upcoming book "Kakaogeschmack" (August Verlag Berlin).
Katrin Köppert is an art and media scholar holding a professorhip at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig.
Attendance information:
While NYU has ended COVID-19 related restrictions and policies, we continue to remind and recommend to members of the NYU community that they stay up-to-date on their boosters and stay home if they feel sick. Masks are always welcome.
To RSVP for in-person attendance, please click here.
"A Question of Taste. Colonial Aesthetics, Political Affects, and Taste Tanks" is funded by the DAAD from funds of the German Federal Foreign Office (AA).
