Academic Readings I: Arts and Humanities
Alexander Walmsley - a.walmsley@filmuniversitaet.de
Prof. Dr. Lena Gieseke - l.gieseke@filmuniversitaet.de
Wednesdays, 14.30-15.30
Room: 6119
[Miao Xiaochun, Metamorphosis-Doubt (2011)]
Purpose of the Course
In this course the participants practice to read publications of the arts and humanities. Participants evaluate each publication through the discussions with the group.
This course is offered in combination with ‘Academic Readings II’, which covers publications from computer science. Both courses can be attended in interchangeable order.
Learning Objectives
- Read and understand research publications
- Judge the content of a publication in terms of relevance and soundness
- Summarize and present a publication
- Text skimming while still grasping its content
Method of Instruction
Readings
- You chose one reading, which is typically a book (either from the list below or of your own choice)
- You must send me a list of your top two choices of readings by October 29
- I will let you know about your assigned reading and the presentation schedule by November 3rd
- From the reading itself you must chose an excerpt of about 30-60 pages, depending on the complexity of the text; Usually choosing the first chapter(s) of a book is a good idea.
Presentation
- You are responsible to carefully read the text, understand it as good as you can and present it with a 20-25 minutes to your fellow students
- You might want to include interesting background information and further contexts
- Next to the presentation of the given content, you must briefly discuss your judgement of the reading and how the content is relevant to CTech.
- The overall goal of the presentation is to foster a discussion about the text and the discussion is to be moderated by you; You must prepare at least three questions for the discussion (it is up to you when to use them).
- At the latest one week before the presentation you must let me know, which pages you are going to cover
- After the presentation you are required to upload your slides to this GitHub repository (into the folder
presentations)
Participation
- I highly recommend that you go over all texts in advance (meaning not only your reading) and grasp their overall ideas
- All students are required to participate in the discussions after the presentation
Readings
The following list offers you some readings to chose from. You can also propose a book that is not on the list. Also, if you are interested in a particular topic, which is not included here, get in touch with me and we will try to find a suitable reading together. All chosen readings must be of a certain quality and need to fit to the overall Creative Technologies context and to Arts & Humanities. All text must be approved by me.
You can find most pdfs of the following list in this ownCloud repository (pw: ar1) with the filename firstauthorlastname_year_firstlettersofthefirstthreewords.pdf. If would like to chose a reading from the above list for which there is no pdf, please get in touch as soon as possible. Then I will still need to scan the text. For a new reading that is not on the list, you are responsible to scan the book and provide a digital version of the text to the others.
- McLuhan, M. (2005): Understanding media
- Heidegger, M. (1977): The Question Concerning Technology
- Sonntag, S. (1966): Against Interpretation
- Murray, J. (2008): Hamlet on the holodeck
- Auslander, P. (2008): Liveness
- Lessig, L. (2006): Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace, Version 2.0
- Youngblood, G. (1970): Expanded Cinema
- Narula, H. (2022): Virtual Society: The Metaverse and the New Frontiers of Human Experience
- Ball, M. (2022): The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything(Forbes Review
- Levitin, D. (2006): This Is Your Brain on Music
- Biggs, M.; Karlsson, H. (Ed.): The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts
- van Es, K.; Schäfer,M. (2017): The Datafied Society. Studying Culture through Data
- Perez, C. (2020): Invisible Women - Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (Forbes Review)
- Abbate, J. (2017): Recoding Gender - Women’s Changing Participation in Computing
- Plant, S. (1997): Zeros and Ones
- O’Neil, C. (2016): Weapons of Math Destruction
- Chun, W. (2004): On Software, or the Persistence of Visual Knowledge
- Boden, M. A.: Creativity in a Nutshell, Artificial Intelligence and Creativity: A Contradiction in Terms?, Skills and the appreciation of computer art)
- Weisberg, R. W. (2006): Creativity: Understanding innovation in problem solving, science, invention, and the arts.
- Sorin, A. (2013): Software and Mind
- Taylor, G. D. (2014): When the Machine Made Art: The Troubled History of Computer Art
- Gibson, S., Arisona, D., Leishman, A. (2023): Live Visuals History, Theory, Practice
- Du Sautoy, M. (2020): Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI
- Harari, Y. N. (2024): Nexus - A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
- Mollick, E. (2024): Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI
- Crawford, K. (2021): Atlas of AI
- Multiple authors (2024):An AI Society (fairly short, must be presented in combination with another reading)
- Christian, B. (2020): The Alignment Problem - How Can Artificial Intelligence Learn Human Values?
- Dixon, C. (2024): Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet
- Toscano, J. (2018): Automating Humanity
- Weyl, E.G., Tang, A. (2024): Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy
- Denning, P. and Tedre, M. (2019): Computational Thinking
- Cox, G. and McLean, A. (2012): Speaking Code: Coding as Aesthetic and Political Expression
- Weizenbaum, J. (1976): Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation
- Finn, E. (2018): What Algorithms Want - Imagination in the Age of Computing
- Weizenbaum, J. (2008): On Social and Political Impact of the Long-term History of Computing (fairly short, must be presented in combination with another reading)
- Bucher, T. (2018): If…Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics
- Crawford, K. (2016): Can an Algorithm be Agonistic? Ten Scenes from Life in Calculated Publics
- Coleman, G. (2012): Coding Freedom
- Webb, M. (2020): Coding Democracy - How Hackers Are Disrupting Power, Surveillance, and Authoritarianism
- Zuboff, S. (2019): The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
- Hovenkamp, H. (2024): Tech Monopoly
- Benkler, Y. (2006): The Wealth of Networks
- Lanier, J. (2014): Who Owns The Future
- Lanier, J. (2018): Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
- Bridle, J. (2018): New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future
- Laczkó, J. (2021): The Art of Hacking
- Bridle, J. (2022): Ways of Being - Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
- Strogatz, S. H. (2019): Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe
- Steyerl, H. (2016): The Wretched of the Screen
- Kittler, F. (2014): The Truth of the Technological World
- Benjamin, W. (2002/1936): Art in a Technological Age
- Wark, M. (2004): A Hacker Manifesto
- Flusser, V. (2011): Into the World of Technical Images
- Flusser, V. (2000): Towards a Philosophy of Photography
- Terranova, T. (2004): Network Culture: Politics for the Information Age
- Hofstadter, D. (1980): Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
- Manovich, L. (2025): Artificial Aesthetics: Generative AI, Art and Visual Media
Schedule
| Session | Topic | Pages | Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.10.25 | Introduction | Lena | |
| Presentation Techniques | Lena | ||
| 22.10.25 | No Class | ||
| 29.10.25 | No Class | ||
| 05.11.25 | No Class | ||
| 12.11.25 | No Class | ||
| 19.11.25 | Manovich, L. 2025. Artificial Aesthetics: Generative AI, Art and Visual Media | pgs. 8-23; 25-38; 95-117 | Amelie |
| 26.11.25 | Auslander, P. 2008. Liveness. | pgs. 1-72 | Maria |
| 03.12.25 | Plant, S. 1997. Zeros and Ones. | pgs. 5-60 | Bonita |
| 10.12.25 | Mollick, E. 2024. Co-Intelligence. | pgs. Introduction, 27-32, 46-62, 136-143, 193-212, Epilogue | Linus |
| 17.12.25 | Bridle, J. 2022. Ways of Being. | Whole book | Lynn |
| 14.01.26 | du Sautoy, M. 2019. The Creativity Code. | Johannes | |
| 21.01.26 | Gibson, S., Arisona, D., Leishman, A. 2023. Live Visuals: History, Theory, Practice. | pgs. 194-207, 240-262 | Katha |
| 28.01.26 | Boden, M. 2010. Creativity and Artificial Intelligence. | Nike | |
| 04.02.26 | tba |
Evaluation
The requirements to pass the course are
- the presentation of the assigned reading,
- the discussion lead regarding the reading and related topics,
- active participation in the discussions in all sessions.
Attendance is mandatory. If more than 2 sessions are missed, the course is failed. In case of illness or other justifiable reasons of absence, sent a notification before the class to a.walmsley@filmuniversitaet.de and your absence might be excused.
If you completed your presentation but fail due to too many missed classes, you can re-do the class by attending 5 session of AR1 in the following year. You do not have to give a presentation again.
Grading
There will be a grade for this class.
The grade is based on
- your presentation (70% of the grade), and
- your participation in the discussions (30%).
The presentation grade is based on
- how well the topic of the reading is understood and communicated,
- the difficulty and quantity of the considered texts,
- the quality of the discussion of the reading’s relevance for Creative Technologies,
- the quality and quantity of given contexts and background information,
- how well the discussion is lead in terms of input questions and moderation, and
- the creativity of the presentation and/or discussion lead.
Inclusivity Statement
It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit.
It is my intent to present activities that accommodate and value a diversity of gender, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, and culture. I will gladly honor your request to address you by your preferred name and gender pronoun. I commit to make individual arrangements to address disabilities or religious needs (e.g. religious events in conflict with class meetings and deadlines). Please advise me of these preferences and needs early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my plans and records.
Debate and free exchange of ideas is encouraged, but I will not tolerate harassment, i.e. a pattern of behavior directed against a particular individual with the intent of humiliating or intimidating.
[Adapted from P. Pedercini with permission.]
Stress Culture
Take care of yourself. All of us benefit from support during times of struggle. You are not alone. There are many helpful resources available at Filmuni, and an important part of the university experience is learning how to ask for help. If you or anyone you know experiences any unbearable academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, I strongly encourage you to seek support. The Filmuni offers different services and counseling for you.
[Adapted from P. Pedercini with permission.]