Invitation to the Defense of Martina Gimplinger

The Examination Panel is made up of: Univ.-Prof. Dr.phil. M.A. Elke Gaugele (chair), Univ.-Prof. Dr.phil. Ruth Sonderegger (first supervisor), Prof. Dr. Bojana Kunst (second supervisor) and Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Eva Kernbauer (external appraiser, University of applied arts Vienna).

Abstract

Through the PhD project WAS UNS ANGEHT: Zuschauen als ethische Relation, my guiding question revolves around as to how we deal with histories of genocidal violence today. In which ways do we encounter historical subjects that are mainly defined by a history of violence? For me, these questions emerged in and are profoundly intertwined with Clara Furey’s solo dance performance, When Even The (2018). At the Museum of Modern Art Vienna, Furey performed alongside a flat metal object. This particular object had been found on one of the sites of former Upper Austrian concentration camps, Mauthausen and Gusen, by Heimrad Bäcker, an Austrian writer, publisher, and photographer. At the center of these aesthetic modes of retrospect addressing the history of the Shoah are the acts of Aufheben (picking-up) by Bäcker and of Nachspüren (feeling-after) by Furey. Bäcker’s gesture of preserving these objects provoked me to question how those connected to the perpetrators’ histories choose to remember the ones who were killed. Bäcker’s youthful enthusiasm for the “Führer” evolved into a lifelong critical engagement with the history of National Socialism and the Shoah. Driven presumably by a sense of guilt, Bäcker secured abandoned objects from these sites. These gestures of picking-up and carrying, aim, first and foremost, to care for preservation. On the other hand, are Furey’s gestures of staying with and holding the presence of the found object a way of caring for the dead? In contrast to white and male-dominated notions of autonomy, gestures of care highlight processes of relationality, interconnectedness, vulnerability, and interdependence. It is then possible to read Furey’s bodily acts of leaning and bending, slowing down and deep breathing as embodied scenes of relation. Simultaneously, it may retrospectively shed light on the potential for caring embedded in Bäcker’s bodily acts of picking-up. Being in front of scenes of care on stage shapes the way we spectate: they require us to respond and to be responsive and can potentially yield a way of looking that moves towards an ethical relation. The sensitive dance performance When Even The allows for an imagination of potential forms of caring for those killed and questions one’s own affectivity in dealing with the archives of violence – especially for spectators from the perpetrators’ countries.

The thesis defense will be in German and will take place at the Academy at Schillerplatz 3, room M13a.

We are looking forward to welcoming you.