Mimetic Modes of Existence

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Friedrich Balke; Professorin Dr. Maria Muhle
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies ; History of Philosophy ; Art History
• Term: from 2013 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 213948042

The project uses the understanding of mimesis gained in the first phase, that calls into question the normative setup of the imitatio paradigm and the related philosophical taming of mimesis (protocolic mimesis), for its new main focus: Mimesis should not only be seen as a technique of representation but as a mode of existence at the same time. At the intersection of media-philosophical, historical and aesthetic considerations, the first task is to develop the concept of mimetic modes of existence systematically and historically. Under the influence of the invention and implementation of technical analogue media in the 19th century, theories arose that define the social as a media-based imitation and attempt to grasp it using categories of suggestibility and transmission (Gabriel Tarde). It will be investigated how a society's fluctuating beliefs and flows of desire are formed under the conditions created by digital communication using the example of digital imaging and image distribution techniques and aesthetics within the perspective of (excessive) distribution dynamics.Following Roger Caillois' concept of mimesis, digital space will be conceived as a mimetic milieu characterized by complex and non-hierarchical, gestures of harmonization between environment and organism. The current interest in the role of affects and their digital modeling will be taken up in order to develop a concept of the socio-affection which accounts for describing the importance of processes involved in the tendency to merge organism and technological-mechanical environment. The mimetic game of distinguishing oneself from and yet clinging to an other will be investigated using the example of the transformations of people, identities, and their masks, which are seen as specific manifestations of digital mimicry because they pick up on Caillois' distinctions of types of mimesis (travesty, disguise, and intimidation).The project finally interrogates mimesis in terms of its excessive capacity for modulation. The focus here is the visual transitions and appropriations and the technical (high) resolution of a specific digital image. The change away from the manipulation of artistic materials to the management of images or image populations in the digital environment (David Joselit) requires the notion of a transitive mimesis that has at its center the non-deterministic and non-causal re-aggregations of images or between images. The specific virtuality (Gilles Deleuze) that can be observed within the phenomenon of HD imagery allows mimesis to be removed from the notorious imitation of a pre-image and replaced in the range of a before-the-picture: Here, mimesis as the becoming-image (devenir image) takes on shape under the auspices of a specific realization environment from which the extreme flexibility and adaptability of the derived image forms follow.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 1867: History and Theory of Mimetic Practices
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Marcus Burkhardt; Professor Dr. Tobias Döring; Professor Dr. Oliver Fahle; Professor Dr. Urs Stäheli