Jan 26 2024

Germanic Studies Colloquium: Phill Cabeen, “Music, Ambiguity and Community in the Neue Deutsche Welle”

January 26, 2024

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Location

UH 1501

Calendar

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IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN AND SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN!
MUSIC, AMBIGUITY AND COMMUNITY IN THE NEUE DEUTSCHE WELLE

LECTURE BY PHILL CABEEN, A.B.D. GERMANIC STUDIES

HOW DO WE RECONCILE THE MIXED FEELINGS THAT CHARACTERIZE EVERYDAY LIFE WITH THE URGE TO BUILD COMMUNITY? CAN POP SONGS GENERATE PLEASURE AND SUPPORT SUCH ACTION? EVEN IF THEY STAKE NO EXPLICIT POLITICAL CLAIMS? AT THE DAWN OF THE NEW GERMAN WAVE, THE POST-PUNK BAND HANS-A-PLAST, LED BY SINGER ANNETTE BENJAMIN AND DRUMMER BETTINA SCHRÖDER, PROVIDED EMPHATIC ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS WITH AN INNOVATIVE ALBUM THAT ELECTRIFIED YOUTH THROUGHOUT WEST GERMANY…. DESPITE ITS INTERNAL AMBIGUITIES AND CONTRADICTIONS. THIS TALK WILL PROVIDE A REPARATIVE READING OF THAT ALBUM IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE WAYS IN WHICH THE AESTHETIC AND THE POLITICAL CAN NOURISH ONE ANOTHER, AND OF THE WAYS IN WHICH COMPLEX, OPEN-ENDED CONSTRUCTIONS OF MEANING CAN NEVERTHELESS BE INSTRUMENTAL TO CONCRETE CHANGE.

PHILL CABEEN IS A PH.D. CANDIDATE IN THE GERMANIC STUDIES DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, WHERE HIS WORK FOCUSES ON SUBVERSIVE CULTURAL ARTS MOVEMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY, MEDIA STUDIES, CRITICAL PEDAGOGY, AND THE INTERSECTION OF THESE. HIS DISSERTATION, "PLEASURES AND POWERS OF AFFECTIVE DISORIENTATION: ICONOCLASTIC AMBIVALENCE AND POLYVALENCE IN THE NEUE DEUTSCHE WELLE." IS INFORMED BY FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP ON AFFECT, AND THE WAYS IN WHICH AFFECT DETERMINES THE RELATIONSHIP(S) BETWEEN ART AND POLITICS. IT ALSO DRAWS ON GERMANIC STUDIES' RICH HUMANIST AND ANTI-FASCIST TRADITIONS, AND HAS BEEN SUPPORTED WITH A ONE-YEAR DAAD RESEARCH GRANT.U

Contact

Heidi Schlipphacke

heidis@uic.edu

Date posted

Feb 7, 2024

Date updated

Feb 7, 2024