Annotation
Anachronologies / Mgr. et Mgr. Eva Skopalová, ÚDU FF UK e.skopalova@gmail.com
Fall 2019/2020
Lecture, 6 credits
Course description:
The series of lectures called “Anachronologies” aims to give an outline of various strategies (concerning the field of art history, anthropology and philosophy) about the perception of time which increasingly disrupt conventional linear temporality. The idea of time is a cultural invention, and so is the chronology which stands as the representation of this artificial term. However, in a more detailed examination, we can see ruptures, discontinuities or multilogues which could only become remarkable and explicable if we reconsider the notion of time. Therefore, we will follow very rich discussion about the so-called anachronistic perspective in the art history. What happened with art historical narratives when we change this notion a priori? During the semester, we will approach several perspectives of temporality in context of art history. Starting with Aby Warburg’s Atlas Mnémosyné, we will discuss the interconnection of images across time (and space). Consequently, we will address the question of the hyper-images before turning toward the messianic time and its images in connection with Walter Benjamin’s thoughts about art. The four successive sessions will discuss the French “Théorie de l’image” (Hubert Damisch, André Malraux, Georges Didi-Huberman etc.) and then its reception overseas in the project of Anachronic Renaissance by Alexander Nagel and Christopher S. Wood. In this occasion, we shall also discuss George Kubler’s The Shape of Time. The course will end with three classes focused on contemporary art and its “post-historical” character. Detailed description of individual sessions is attached below.
Requirements:
Each student has to submit a 2000-word essay (ENG/CZ) focusing on the particular work of art of student’s choice. The final paper must discuss the issue(s) brought up during classes. Before submitting the paper, every student has to present (ENG) his/her work during the last class of the semester. This class session is intended to improve and further discuss the problematics, ensuring the successful writing of the final paper.
Active participation and attendance are required, max. 3 absences per semester / whence 1 without any earlier excuse.
(Week 0 – Introduction)
Week 1 – Aby Warburg and hyper-images
The work of Aby Warburg has been widely studied and popularized since 1990’s. In today’s world filled with omnipresent images, Warburg’s Atlas Mnémosyné supports complex ideas about the nature of images and subsequently the relationships between pictorial presentations. The lecture will focus on Warburg’s work (the concepts of Nachleben and Pathosformel), its legacy, and how the texts relate to the complex structure of images known as hyper-images. /Aby Warburg, Umberto Eco, Felix Thürlemann/
Bibliography:
· Aby Warburg, Dürer and Italian Antiquity, in: Kurt W. Foster et al. (eds.), The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity: Contributions to the Cultural History of the European Renaissance, London 1999, p. 553-558. GER/ENG
· Felix Thürlemann, Mehr als ein Bild, Munchen 2013. GER
Week 2 – Messianic Time
The lecture will focus on the idea of Messianic Time and its comprehension in the work of Walter Benjamin. Benjamin’s conception of materialistic history is famously connected to the etching by Paul Klee (Angelus Novus, 1920). Since Benjamin argues that, “the (art) historian is a prophet facing backwards”, the lecture will discuss the problematics of searching “persistence of history” instead of innovations. /Gershom Scholem, Walter Benjamin, Karl Marx/
Bibliography:
· Walter Benjamin, On the Concept of History, in: Walter Eliand – Michael W. Jennings (eds.), Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, vol. 4, 1938-1940, p. 389-400. GER/CZE
· Peter Osborne, Marx and the Philosophy of Time, in: Radical Philosophy, https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/marx-and-the-philosophy-of-time ENG
Week 3 – “Contre-histoire”
The lecture gives an outline of the life and work of Hubert Damisch, a French art historian who educated a whole generation of art historians, Georges Didi-Huberman in particular. Mainly, the course will focus on Damisch’s concept of “contre-histoire”. /Hubert Damisch, Yves-Alain Bois, Georges Didi-Huberman/
Bibliography:
· Hubert Damisch, The Judgement of Paris, Chicago 1996, p. 157-192 (Ch. “Remember Paris”: The Genealogy of Europe). FR/ENG
Week 4 – Pseudomorphism
The class will focus on Le Musée Imaginaire (The Museum without Walls), a book by André Malraux. The session will discuss problems connected with terminologies such as “Western” art and the “Other”, therefore exploring the question of post-colonialism and the legacy of images and their use and circulation. Last but not least, the course will investigate the meaning of pseudomorphism and the possibilities connected with this term. /André Malraux, Alain Resnais, Chris Marker/
Filmography:
· Alain Resnais – Chris Marker – Ghislain Coquet, Les statues meurent aussi, 1953. FR/ENG subtitles
· Chris Marker, L’Héritage de la chouette, 1989. FR/ENG subtitles
Bibliography:
· André Malraux, Le Musée imaginaire, Paris 1947. FR/ENG/CZE
· Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, in: Monoskop.org, https://monoskop.org/images/6/6d/Benjamin_Walter_1936_2008_The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Its_Technological_Reproducibility_Second_Version.pdf, accessed on 11/2/2019. GER/CZE
Week 5 - Georges Didi-Huberman and the French Theory of Image I
Georges Didi-Huberman recently actualized the anachronical perspective on art history by study of Aby Warburg’s work. For this reason, we look on his writings more precisely. In the first part, we will discuss his relationship to the work of Aby Warburg and the concept of nymph or Ninfa. /Aby Warburg, Georges Didi-Huberman, Giorgio Agamben/
Bibliography:
· Georges Didi-Huberman, The Surviving Image: Phantoms of Time and Time of Phantoms: Aby Warburg's History of Art, University Park 2016. FR/ENG
· Giorgio Agamben, Nymphs, in Jacques Khalip – Robert Mitchell (eds.), Releasing the Image. From Literature to New Media, Standford 2011. IT/ FR/ENG
Week 6 - Georges Didi-Huberman and the French Theory of Image II
The second part dedicated to work of Georges Didi-Huberman will focus on his recent work as continuation of Warburg’s idea of pathos formula as political gestures, and also his reflection of Auschwitz images. /Georges Didi-Huberman, Hubert Damisch, Giorgio Agamben/
Bibliography:
· Georges Didi-Huberman, Images in Spite of All, Chicago 2008. FR/ENG
· Georges Didi-Huberman, Uprisings, Paris 2016. FR/ENG
Week 7 – Anachronic Renaissance & The Shape of Time
After inauguration of the notion of the positive meaning of anachronism to the art history, the idea was reconsidered by Alexander Nagel (in collaboration with Christopher S. Wood). The artefact could be on one hand, only example of its own genre, or on the other, could be replaced. Therefore, this lecture will focus on further development this perspective overseas with conceptual turnoff to the book The Shape of Time by Georges Kubler. /Alexander Nagel, Christopher S. Wood, Georges Kubler/
Bibliography:
· Alexander Nagel – Christopher S. Wood, Anachronic Renaissance, New York 2011. ENG/(CZE)
· Alexander Nagel, Medieval Modern, New York 2012. ENG
· George Kubler, The Shape of Time, New Haven, 1962. ENG/CZE
Week 8 - Gilles Deleuze and (Digital) Baroque
From the other angle, the philosophical thought of Gilles Deleuze could be put into parallel to the anachronistic perspective in the art history. Deleuze’s ideas were extremely rich in considering contemporary art in relationship to the baroque. This lesson will discuss why the baroque is such a contemporary concept (for example, the exhibition Riotous Baroque, Kunsthaus Zürich 2012). /Gilles Deleuze, (Félix Guattari,) Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Mieke Bal/
Bibliography:
· Gilles Deleuze – Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, New York 1987. FR/ENG/GER/CZE
· Mieke Bal, Introduction, in: Idem, Quoting Caravaggio: Contemporary Art, Preposterous History, Chicago 1999. ENG/(CZE)
Week 9 – Modernism and Antiquity – Documenta 12 & Manifesta 12
In 2007, one of the main questions of this year’s Documenta 12 was ‘if the modernism is our antiquity’. This class will discuss the receding horizon of modernity and its presence (or rather absence) in contemporary art. The focus will be on the discussion through Documenta 12 & Manifesta 12, and text of Boris Groys Comrades of Time. /Ruth Noack, Boris Groys, Rosalind Krauss/
Bibliography:
· Rosalind Krauss, “The Originality of the Avant-Garde,” The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1985), 151-170. ENG
· Ruth Noack – M. Bruegel, Documenta 12, Kassel 2007. ENG/GER
· Boris Groys, Comrades of Time, in. e-flux, https://www.e-flux.com/journal/11/61345/comrades-of-time/ ENG/(CZE)
Week 10 – Curating the Time
The anachronistic perspective becomes extremely successive as a contemporary curatorial strategy. Through this lecture we will discuss some “anachronistic” exhibitions ante datem (ex. a-Historische klanken show by Harald Szeemann), and contemporary projects. /Harald Szeemann, Jasper Sharp/
Bibliography:
· E. Wittocx, - A. Demeester - M. Buhler, The Transhistorical Museum: Mapping the Field, Amsterdam 2018. ENG
Week 11 – The Post-Contemporary
The cycle of lectures will conclude with contemporary philosophical stream of the speculative realism and its ideas about the nature of time, and the interpretation of contemporary art. /Armen Avanessian, Suhail Malik/
Bibliography:
· Armen Avanessian –