On December 8 and 9, I will attend the conference titled “Unrelating: Infrastructures, Imaginaries and Politics of Disconnection” organized by Timon Beyes, Urs Stäheli, Clara Wieghorst and Lea Zierott of the research project “Disconnectivity: Imaginaries, Media Technologies, Politics”.
Originally, the conference had been planned to take place in Hamburg, but due to current circumstances, it is now going to be held online. While this is sad for all of us who were looking forward to attending in person, it does make it a lot easier for anyone interested in the topic to join. If this includes you, please register at cdcforum@leuphana.de.
In my contribution, titled “Varieties of Negativity: Historical Perspectives on Passivity and Disengagement”, I will present a survey of current historiographical research on inaction, disconnection and related topics, hoping to enrich the theoretical discussion ongoing in other fields of scholarship.
Because of the change of venue, the program is not yet set in stone. The organizers are working on it. Roughly, we can expect the following:
December 8
- Timon Beyes, Urs Stäheli, Clara Wieghorst, Lea Zierott: Welcome and Introduction
- Theodora Sutton: Disconnect/Reconnect: Imaginaries and Politics of Digital Detoxing
- Ana Jorge: Pilgrimage and Dis/Connection
- Steffen Krämer: Unplugging Audiences: Non-Attention as a Third Mode Between Attention and Distractioon
- Milan Stürmer: Disconnection by Decree: From Bronze Age Debt Cancellations to Digital Objects
- Theo Jung: Varieties of Negativity: Historical Perspectives on Passivity and Disengagement
- Alice Lagaay: DIS*CONNECTION: Responding With Paradox to the Paradoxes of a Network Society
- Marilyn Strathern: Productive Breaks and Energising Gaps in the Worlds of Anthropology (Keynote)
December 9
- Martina Leeker: Accept the Gap! Mediocrity for Digital Cultures
- Nine Yamamoto-Masson: tba
- Nicole Scheller: Being Invisible: Countersurveillance Strategies in Art and Design
- Melissa Gregg: tba
- Nishant Shah: tba
- Sebastian Gießmann: A Very Short History of Credit Card Fraud
Theo Jung 
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