Cultural techniques

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From the German term Kulturtechniken, which may be rendered in English as cultural techniques, cultural technologies, cultural technics, or culturing techniques.

Kulturtechniken is a concept linked to developments in Germanophone media theory in the previous decade (2000s). Emerging in the late 19th century in the domain of agricultural engineering, the notion of cultural techniques was later employed to describe the interactions between humans and media, and, most recently, to "account for basic operations and differentiations that give rise to an array of conceptual and ontological entities which are said to constitute culture." As Geoffrey Winthrop-Young further argues in a thematic issue of Theory, Culture & Society, "cultural techniques [..] transcend the confines of literary studies, media theory and cultural studies and enter the domain of philosophy and anthropology." (2013: 5)

The concept is often explained through a now canonical passage by cultural historian Thomas Macho:

"Cultural techniques – such as writing, reading, painting, counting, making music – are always older than the concepts that are generated from them. People wrote long before they conceptualized writing or alphabets; millennia passed before pictures and statues gave rise to the concept of the image; and until today, people sing or make music without knowing anything about tones or musical notation systems. Counting, too, is older than the notion of numbers. To be sure, most cultures counted or performed certain mathematical operations; but they did not necessarily derive from this a concept of number." (Macho, 2003: 179)

The introduction of the concept into media theory is intertwined with the work of Friedrich Kittler and the Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, an interdisciplinary academic institute founded in 1999 by eight professors from Berlin universities. The following years saw numerous, largely German publications, notably in the special book series of major humanities publishers (Wilhelm Fink, diaphanes). An English volume on cultural techniques is forthcoming from Fordham University Press.

Key terms

colere, culture, Cultur, Kultur, techné, technique, Technik

Institutes

Events

Theorists

Bibliography

Book series

Kulturtechnik (Fink) [2]
  • Sybille Krämer, Horst Bredekamp (eds.), Bild, Schrift, Zahl, Munich: Fink, 2003. Second edition, 2009. (in German) [3]
  • Gernot Grube, Werner Kogge, Sybille Krämer (eds.), Schrift: Kulturtechnik zwischen Auge, Hand und Maschine, Munich: Fink, 2005, 472 pp. ISBN 978-3-7705-4190-4. (in German) [4] [5]
  • Die mathematischen Wurzeln der Kultur, Mathematische Innovationen und ihre kulturellen Folgen, Munich: Fink, 2005, 193 pp. ISBN 978-3-7705-4016-7. (in German) [6]
  • Wolfgang Ernst, Friedrich Kittler (eds.), Die Geburt des Vokalalphabets aus dem Geist der Poesie: Schrift, Zahl und Ton im Medienverbund, Munich: Fink, 2006, 314 pp. ISBN 978-3-7705-4267-3. (in German) [7]
  • Horst Bredekamp, Pablo Schneider (eds.), Visuelle Argumentationen: Die Mysterien der Repräsentation und die Berechenbarkeit der Welt, Munich: Fink, 2006, 266 pp. (in German) [8]
  • Friedrich Kittler, Ana Ofak (eds.), Medien vor den Medien, Munich: Fink, 2007, 282 pp. ISBN 978-3-7705-4284-0. (in German) [9]
  • Ana Ofak, Philipp von Hilgers (eds.), Rekursionen: Von Faltungen des Wissens, Munich: Fink, 2010, 266 pp. ISBN 978-3-7705-4678-7. (in German) [10]
  • Horst Bredekamp, Christiane Kruse, Pablo Schneider (eds.), Imagination und Repräsentation: Zwei Bildsphären der Frühen Neuzeit, Munich: Fink, 2010, 362 pp. ISBN 978-3-7705-4591-9. (in German) [11]
  • Thomas Macho, Christian Kassung, Kulturtechniken der Synchronisation, Munich: Fink, 2013, 413 pp. ISBN 978-3-7705-4808-8. (in German) [12]
Daidalia - Studien und Materialien zur Geschichte und Theorie der Kulturtechniken (diaphanes) [13]

Edited by Bernhard Siegert and Daniel Gethmann.

  • Hubert Damisch, Der Ursprung der Perspektive: Perspektive als Kulturtechnik und als Denkmodell, Zürich: diaphanes, 2010, 448 pp. ISBN 978-3-03734-087-5. (in German). Translated from the French by Heinz Jatho. [14]
  • Nina Wiedemeyer, Buchfalten: Material, Technik, Gefüge der Künstlerbücher, 2013 (forthcoming), 256 pp. ISBN 978-3-03734-380-7. (in German) [15]

More books

  • Jürgen Barkhoff, Hartmut Böhme, Jeanne Riou (eds.), Netzwerke: Eine Kulturtechnik der Moderne, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna: Böhlau, 2004. (in German) [16]
  • Carolin Meister, Legenden. Zur Sichtbarkeit der Bildbeschreibung, Zürich: diaphanes, 2005, 224 pp. ISBN 978-3-935300-96-4. (in German) [17]
  • Sebastian Gießmann, Netze und Netzwerke. Archäologie einer Kulturtechnik, 1740-1840, Transcript, 2006, 114 pp. ISBN 978-3899424386. (in German)
  • Bernhard Siegert, Tobias Nanz (eds.), EX MACHINA. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kulturtechniken, Weimar, 2006. (in German)
  • Daniel Gethmann, Susanne Hauser (eds.), Kulturtechnik Entwerfen: Praktiken, Konzepte und Medien in Architektur und Design Science, Bielefeld, 2009. (in German) Introduction.
  • Ulrike Bergermann et al (eds.), Das Planetarische: Kultur-Technik-Medien im postglobalen Zeitalter, Munich: Fink, 2010. (in German)
  • Tobias Nanz, Grenzverkehr. Eine Mediengeschichte der Diplomatie, Zürich: diaphanes, 2010, 224 pp. ISBN 978-3-03734-105-6. (in German) [18]

Journal issues and Special sections

Zeitschrift für Medien- und Kulturforschung – 'Kulturtechnik' (1/2010), in German. Download.
Theory, Culture & Society 30:6 (November 2013), Special Issue: Cultural Techniques. Download.

Book chapters, Papers, Articles

  • Bernhard Siegert, "Kakographie oder Kommunikation? Verhältnisse zwischen Kulturtechnik und Parasitentum", Archiv für Mediengeschichte, Nr. 1, 2001. (in German)
  • Bernhard Siegert, "(Nicht) Am Ort. Zum Raster als Kulturtechnik", Thesis 49, 2003, No. 3. (in German)
  • Wolfgang Ernst, "Von der Mediengeschichte zur Zeitkritik", in: Engell, Siegert, Vogl (eds.), Kulturgeschichte als Mediengeschichte (oder vice versa?), Weimar: Universitatsverlag, 2006, pp 23–32. (in German)
  • Sybille Krämer, "The Cultural Techniques of Time Axis Manipulation: On Friedrich Kittler’s Conception of Media", Theory Culture Society, Vol. 23 (2006), No. 7-8, Special Section on Friedrich Kittler, pp 93-109.
  • Erhard Schüttpelz, "Die medienanthropologische Kehre der Kulturtechniken", in: Engell, Siegert, Vogl (eds.), Archiv für Mediengeschichte No. 6: Kulturgeschichte als Mediengeschichte (oder vice versa)?, Weimar: Universitatsverlag, 2006, pp 87–110. (in German)
  • Bernhard Siegert, "parlêtres. Zur kulturtechnischen Gabe und Barre der anthropologischen Differenz", in: Anne von der Heiden, Joseph Vogl (eds.), Politische Zoologie, Berlin-Zürich: diaphanes, 2007, pp 23-37. (in German) [20]
  • Bernhard Siegert, "Cultural Techniques of Ruling Spaces – Raumbeherrschung", in: Architecture of the Medial Spaces: Bauhaus Lectures Dessau 16-17 May 06 Dessau, eds. Joachim Krausse and Stephan Pinkau, Dessau, 2008, pp 16-26.
  • Thomas Macho, "Tiere zweiter Ordnung. Kulturtechniken der Identitat", in: Baecker, Kettner, Rustemeyer (eds.), Über Kultur. Theorie und Praxis der Kulturreflexion. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2008, pp 99–117. (in German) [21]
  • Gloria Meynen, "Die Insel als Kulturtechnik (Ein Entwurf)", Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft 2 (1/2010), Zürich: diaphanes, pp 79–91. (in German)
  • Tara Rodgers, Jonathan Sterne, "Poetik der Signalverarbeitung", Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft 5 (2/2011), Zürich: diaphanes, pp 122–137. (in German)
  • Bernhard Siegert, "Kulturtechnik", in: Harun Maye, Leander Scholz (eds.), Einführung in die Kulturwissenschaft Munich, 2011, pp 95-118. (in German)
  • Bernhard Siegert, "The map is the territory", Radical Philosophy, "Dossier: What is German Media Philosophy?", No. 169 (Sep/Oct 2011), pp 13-16. Lecture (audio), 20 min, 2011.
  • Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, "Kittler’s Siren Recursions", in Stephen Sale (ed.), Kittler Now: Current Perspectives in Kittler Studies, Cambridge: Polity, 2013 (forthcoming).

Primary references

Kulturtechnik as agricultural engineering
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Dunckelberg, 2 Vols., Encyclopädie und Methodologie der Culturtechnik. Zum Gebrauch an landwirthschaftlichen und technischen Lehranstalten, Braunschweig: Bieweg, 1883. (in German)
  • Emil Perels, Abhandlungen über Kulturtechnik, Jena, 1889. (in German)
  • Christian August Vogler, Grundlehren der Kulturtechnik, 2 Vols., Berlin, 1898. (in German). The book counted chemistry, mineralogy, botany, mechanics, hydraulics, economics, water management, manufacturing, and law among the constituents of Kulturtechnik.
Philosophy of technology and Media anthropology
  • Marcell Mauss, "Les Techniques du corps". Paper presented at the Société de Psychologie, 17 May 1934. Published in Journal de Psychologie 32 (3-4), 1936. (in French) [22] [23]
  • Martin Heidegger, "Die Frage nach der Technik", in Vorträge und Aufsätze, Pfullingen: Günther Neske, 1954. (in German). Reprinted as Die Frage nach der Technik, Pfullingen: Günther Neske, 1962; and in Gesamtausgabe. 4 Abteilungen: Gesamtausgabe 1. Abt. Bd. 7: Vorträge und Aufsätze, Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2000, pp 5-36 ("Das Ding" appears there on pp 165-187). In the 1962 book, the following prefatory note appears regarding the two essays, "Die Frage nach der Technik" [The Question Concerning Technology] and "Die Kehre" [The Turning]: "Under the title 'Insight into That Which Is', the author gave, on 1 December 1949, in the Club at Bremen, four lectures, which were repeated without alterations on 25-26 March 1950 at Bühlerhöhe. The titles were 'Das Ding' [The Thing], 'Das Gestell' [En­framing], 'Die Gefahr' [The Danger], 'Die Kehre' [The Turning]. The first lecture was given in an expanded version on 6 June 1950, before the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. The second lecture was given on 18 November 1955, also in an expanded version, under the title 'The Question Concerning Tech­nology' in the series entitled The Arts in the Technological Age. The present volume repeats this text unaltered. The third lecture remains still unpublished. The fourth lecture, 'The Turning', is published here for the first time according to the first unaltered version."
    • "La question de la technique", trans. André Préau, Gallimard, 1958, pp 9-48. (in French) [24]
    • "The Thing", in Poetry, Language, Thought, trans. Albert Hofstadter, New York: Harper & Row, 1971, pp 165-186.
    • "Spørsmålet om teknikken", in Oikos og techne, Johan Grundt Tanum, 1973. New edition: Oslo: Aschehoug, 1996. (in Norwegian)
    • "La questione della tecnica", trans. Gianni Vattimo, in Saggi e discorsi, Milan: Mursia, 1976, pp 5-27. (in Italian) [25]
      • "La cosa", pp 109-124.
    • "The Question Concerning Technology", in The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays, trans. William Lovitt, New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1977, pp 3-35.
      • "The Turning", pp 36-49.
    • "La pregunta por la técnica", trans. Salvador Mas Torres, Anales del Seminario de Metafísica 24, Madrid, 1990, pp 129-162. (in Spanish)
    • "Вопрос о технике", trans. В. В. Бибихин, in Время и бытие: Статьи и выступления, Moscow: Республика, 1993, pp 221—238, notes 420—423. (in Russian)
    • "Otázka techniky", trans. Jiří Michálek, Jana Kružíková and Ivan Chvatík, in Věda, technika a zamyšlení, Prague: Oikoymenh, 2004, pp 7-35. (in Czech)
    • "A questão da técnica", trans. Marco Aurélio Werle, Scientiae studia, São Paulo, Vol. 5, No. 3 (2007), pp 375-398. (in Portuguese)
    • Tekniikka ja käänne, trans. Vesa Jaaksi, Tampere: Eurooppalaisen filosofian seura, 2007. (in Finnish) [26]
Kulturtechnik in elementary pedagogy
  • Angela Fritz, Alexandra Suess, Lesen: Die Bedeutung der Kulturtechnik Lesen für den Gesellschaftlichen Kommunikationsprozess, Konstanz: Universitats Verlag, 1986, 180 pp. ISBN 387940299X. (in German)

See also

External links


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