Studium Generale

Studium Generale courses

Mythologies of possible futures: Between Science Fiction and Reality

Gustave%20Dore%2C%20A%20Voyage%20to%20the%20Moon%20(1868)%2C%20from%20The%20Adventures%20of%20Baron%20Munchhausen

Gustave Dore, A Voyage to the Moon (1868), from The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen

Activation

Gustave%20Dore%2C%20Paradiso%20Canto%20XXXI%3A%20The%20Celestial%20Rose%20(1868)

Gustave Dore, Paradiso Canto XXXI: The Celestial Rose (1868)

Hello wrldz ;)

Seeding myths

Let's start the vertical and horizontal analysis of past, present and future myths.

Antiquity to Renaissance

Dark age & co.

Renaissance to 19th century

Destination 1: The Moon

19th century

Frankenstein

The Sandmann

Erewhon

Paris in the 20th century

The Time Machine

Dystopias and Utopias

1984

Brave New World

Island

Glasperlenspiel

Handmaid's Tale

Birth of a robot

R.U.R.

Metropolis

Astounding Stories

(Asimov's) Laws of Robotics

R. Daneel Olivaw

From Golden Age to the New Wave

John "Ticktockman" W. Campbell vs. Harlan "Harlequin" Ellison and Horselover "nicht-alle-Tassen-im-Schrank" Fat

Philip Kindred Dick (1928 - 1982)

ultra-prolific (cca 45 novels, >120 short-stories)

his twin sister Jane died when he was six weeks old

first educated at Quaker schools, later at Berkeley

seller in record store, gets his first short-story "R🐶🐶G" published in 1951

amphetamine abuse; married 5 times; paranoia; schizophrenia;

self-described as "acosmic panentheist" - "I don't believe that the universe exists. I believe that the only thing that exists is God and (s)he is more than the universe. "

Margaret & Ursula

Christmas session on Margaret Atwood and Ursula leGuin

Space Odyssey(s)

Space opera: epic destiny, cosmic technology, and the quiet suspicion that none of this was strictly necessary.

Mythologies of the future

Dune

Star Wars

Foundation

Cantos Hyperion

Cyberpunk, solarpunk and other punkz

Sowing thoughts, sowing worlds

Olivia Butler - The parable of the Sower

Nnedi Okorafor -

Congress AE5602

Medienhaus Aula, Gaia

UdK2300: On Teaching and Telling

Humans are story-telling animals. In the peri(patetic|cycletic) SoSe2026 seminar at Gutshof Sauen, we shall reflect upon history of story-telling as it has been, since times immemorial, practiced in different cultures and different contexts (artistic, educational, political etc.). We will ask questions like: "How will story-telling look like in the future ? What methods, instruments and media will be used to-tell-the-story in year 2300 ? Will AIs and corporations be the principal story-tellers or are they just temporary actors reminding us how important it is that humanity should protect its "narrative sovereignity" ? What stories will be told, by whom, and to whom ?". But first and foremost: we will practice. Outdoor and indoor; by a fireplace and in Extended Reality, we - You, me, us - will be telling stories. And, hopefully, also learning in the process.

Questiae

How will (story-)telling look like in the future ?

What methods, instruments and media will be used to-tell(-the-story) in year 2300 ?

Links

https://udk.ai/sauen (main course information)

#udk2300:medienhaus.udk-berlin.de Matrix room(if You install Matrix client (e.g. Element) App on Your device use "medienhaus.udk-berlin.de" as the homeserver)

0th Meeting (16.4)

Foreword(s)

Literature

Texts You will go through with Daniel

Ursula leGuin: the Telling

William Storr: The science of story-telling

Joseph Campbell: The hero with the thousand faces

Paul Ricoeur: Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives

Texts You will go through with Rinah

Ingold, Tim: Lines (threads and Traces:p 39-53)

Trinh T. Minh-Ha: The Story began long time ago..(intro, 2 pages) 125-151 (Stories and their tellers)

Flusser, Vilem: Crisis of Linearity

Flusser, Vilem: Gestures

Suarez, Lavender: Transcendent Waves: How Listening Shapes Our Creative Lives.

Prologue (23.4)

Today we dive into the theoretical framework of the course.

Daniel: anthropological & cognitive aspects of narration, linguistics / rhetorics, relation to narrations and mythology, scouting

Rinah: embodiment, relation(ship), linearity

If the weather is nice, we will go outdoors (e.g. Medienhaus Terrace, Medienhaus Garden or Kleistpark)

Sauen

The main narrative

Epilogue (7.5)

Reflecting on what happened.

Preparing for Rundgang.

Evaluation (21.5)

Epilogue

Memes, Mindworms, Memplexes &c.

Introduction to Memetics 14.10:::Evolution – from void to Darwin 21.10:::The tip of the iceberg – from Freud, Dawkins, Rizzolatti 28.10:::The 2nd replicator (Blackmore) 4.11:::Theory of cultural evolution 11.11:::Visual memes – from hieroglyphs to emojis 18.11:::Earworms, mindworms 25.11::Fashion, Style, Art &c. 2.12:::Media 9.12::::Memplexes 16.12:::Memes in Law, Politics & Propaganda 13.1 :::Memes & Cyberspace 20.1:::Memes, Memecoins, AIs 27.1.:::Memes revisited 3.2:::The Congress

Memes in Alltag

Session 0 · Memetics begins at home.

Before Internet memes, before ideology, before theory: gestures, tunes, habits, rituals, phrases, drawings, interfaces and everyday acts of copying.

Replication + Variation + Selection = Evolution

Freud, Dawkins, Rizzolatti

The second replicator

Theory of cultural evolution

Visual memes – glyphs, emojis, latrinalia &c.

Earworms, mindworms, moving memes::Fashion, Style, Art &c.

Mediated memes, Urban memes

Memplexes

Memes in Law, Politics & Propaganda

Memes & Cyberspace

Memes, Memecoins, AIs

Memes revisited

The Congress

Short History of the Learning Machine

Between Archetypes & Myths: Machine as a Projection of the Human Self

Prolegomena to Educatio Digitale

Session 0 :: Overview

Session 1 :: Mythology

Session 2 :: Antiquity

Session 3 :: Between Antiquity and Renaissance

Session 4 :: Between Renaissance and Age of Reason

Session 5 :: 19th century

Session 7 :: Repetitio

Session 8a :: Shannon & Information Theory

Session 8b :: Alan Turing

Session 9 :: Epoch

Session 10 :: Datasphere

Session 11 :: Embedded Systems & Ghost in the Shell