Phenomenological sketches “Things and ‘non’-Things” by Vilém Flusser A training of perception and sensuality

The seminar focuses on studying the collected essays in the work by Vilém Flusser from 1993, “Dinge und Undinge” (Things and ‘Non’-Things). The cover text calls Flusser’s essays, “A training of perception and sensuality without solid ground as free, fascinating play.”  

Looking at things and ‘non’-things as though seeing them for the first time is a method, as the cover text goes on to say, to discover their hitherto unnoticed aspects. “It is a powerful and productive method,” says Flusser, “but it demands strict discipline and can easily go wrong. The discipline comprises, basically, a forgetting, a disregarding of the familiarization with the seen thing, that is, all experiences with and knowledge of the thing. This is difficult because, as is generally known, it is easier to learn than to forget.”

The seminar integrates practical exercises for trying out these “productive methods” and defines itself as stimulus for all who are interested in a training of perception “without solid ground.”

Basic Reading

FLUSSER, Vilém: Dinge und Undinge. Phänomenologische Skizzen. München, Wien 1993