Events
Cosponsors
- Dean of Humanities, Arts & Sciences
- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Organizers
- Stefan Andriopoulos
- Brian Larkin
The Comparative Media Initiative seeks to broaden our understanding of media by critically examining how the same technologies work in radically different ways across the globe, juxtaposing media practices in Africa, Latin America, and Asia as well as in Western centers. At the same time, we do not study one medium in isolation but focus on the interaction between emerging, dominant, and residual media which always exist side by side. Both modes of comparison aim to decenter dominant modes of media historiography by highlighting the reciprocal exchange between aesthetic forms and technological innovations as they take place in specific contexts that range from state socialism to advanced commodity cultures to Islamic theocracies.
In order to pursue this comparative approach to the theory and history of media the conference assembles scholars from literary studies, art history, anthropology, architecture, film, music, and other related fields.
Program
time6:00pm EDT
Welcome
Welcoming Remarks
Sharon Marcus
Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Columbia University
Opening Remarks
time6:30pm - 8:30pm EDT
Keynote
“Missile Mail: A History Compared With Itself“
Introduction
Jane Gaines
Professor of Film
Columbia University
Keynote
Jonathan Sterne
Professor, James McGill Chair in Culture and Technology
McGill University
time10:00am - 12:30pm EDT
Animism and Media
“The Medium is the Movement: Species, Animation and Projection from Perspectiva to the Magic Lantern” Tom Gunning (Cinema & Media Studies, University of Chicago)“The Frequencies of Animism in Brazil: Media, Mediums, and Dr. Fritz” Tadeu Capistrano (Media, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)
Chair
Stefan Andriopoulos
Professor of Germanic Languages
Columbia University
Speaker
Tom Gunning
Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Art History, Department of Cinema and Media Studies, and the College, Director of Graduate Studies
The University of Chicago
Speaker
Tadeu Capistrano
Professor of Art History
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (EBA / UFRJ)
Respondent
Rosalind Morris
Professor of Anthropology
Columbia University
time1:30pm - 5:00pm EDT
Intermediality and the Nature of the Medium
“The Incomparable. Comparative Media and Medium Specificity” Peter Geimer (Art History, Free University of Berlin)“Untouchability in the Extended Field” Kajri Jain (Art History, University of Toronto)“Impairment” Across Bodies and Signals Mara Mills (Media, Culture and Communication, NYU)
Chair
Reinhold Martin
Associate Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Columbia University
Speaker
Peter Geimer
Professor of Art History
Freie Universität, Berlin
Speaker
Kajri Jain
Associate Professor of Indian Visual Culture and Contemporary Art
University of Toronto, Mississauga
Speaker
Mara Mills
Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication
New York University, Steinhardt
Respondent
Ying Qian
Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Columbia University
time5:30pm - 7:30pm EDT
Keynote
Introduction
Ravi Sundaram
Professor
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi
Keynote
time10:00am - 12:30pm EDT
Circulation, Transfer, Stasis
“Soft Material” Gavin Steingo (Music, Princeton University)“What is an Environment? Set Design Thinking in Chinese Film and Theater.” Weihong Bao (Film and Media, UC Berkeley)
Chair
Ana Maria Ochoa
Professor of Music
Columbia University
Speaker
Gavin Steingo
Assistant Professor of Music
Princeton University
Speaker
Weihong Bao
Associate Professor
University of California, Berkeley
Respondent
Noam Elcott
Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Media
Columbia University
time1:30pm - 4:00pm EDT
Paperwork, Filing Systems, Inscription
“Larkin's Architectural Technologies of Trust” Zeynep Celik Alexander (Architecture University of Toronto)“Paper Democracy: Introducing the Filing System in the Post-War Japanese Public Prosecutor’s Office” Miyako Inoue (Anthropology Stanford University)
Chair
Debashree Mukherjee
Assistant Professor
Columbia University
Speaker
Zeynep Alexander
Assistant Professor, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
University of Toronto
Speaker
Miyako Inoue
Associate Professor
Stanford University
Respondent
Dennis Tenen
Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Columbia University
Participants
- Organizer Stefan Andriopoulos Professor of Germanic Languages Columbia University
- Remarks Sharon Marcus Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature Columbia University
- Remarks Jane Gaines Professor of Film Columbia University
- Keynote Jonathan Sterne Professor, James McGill Chair in Culture and Technology McGill University
- Panel Chair Stefan Andriopoulos Professor of Germanic Languages Columbia University
- Speaker Tom Gunning Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Art History, Department of Cinema and Media Studies, and the College, Director of Graduate Studies The University of Chicago
- Speaker Tadeu Capistrano Professor of Art History Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (EBA / UFRJ)
- Respondent Rosalind Morris Professor of Anthropology Columbia University
- Panel Chair Reinhold Martin Associate Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Columbia University
- Speaker Peter Geimer Professor of Art History Freie Universität, Berlin
- Speaker Kajri Jain Associate Professor of Indian Visual Culture and Contemporary Art University of Toronto, Mississauga
- Speaker Mara Mills Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication New York University, Steinhardt
- Respondent Ying Qian Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures Columbia University
- Keynote Ravi Sundaram Professor Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi
- Panel Chair Ana Maria Ochoa Professor of Music Columbia University
- Speaker Gavin Steingo Assistant Professor of Music Princeton University
- Speaker Weihong Bao Associate Professor University of California, Berkeley
- Respondent Noam Elcott Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Media Columbia University
- Panel Chair Debashree Mukherjee Assistant Professor Columbia University
- Speaker Zeynep Çelik Alexander Assistant Professor, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto
- Speaker Miyako Inoue Associate Professor Stanford University
- Respondent Dennis Tenen Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature Columbia University