Lecture „Beyond Hearing“ & Roundtable „Phenomenologies of Embodied Difference“

Visiting Scholar @ GMPU – Prof. Panayotis Panopoulos, University of the Aegean

Moderation: Univ.-Prof. Michael Winter

Roundtable mit Brooke Leifso (disabled artist + art access consultant im Edmonton, CAN) and Heinz Pfeifer (Blinden- und
Sehbehindertenverband Kärnten) als Kooperation des Arbeitskreises für Gleichbehandlungsfragen und des Wissenschaftsvereins Kärnten

„Beyond Hearing: Deaf Soundscapes of Touch and Vibration“

The ways of the deaf with sound reveal the significance of deaf sonic and vocal experiences towards a wider understanding of perception, expression and creativity, both for the deaf and the hearing. The presentation will focus on the relations of the deaf with sound, through vision, voice, touch and vibration, especially as these relations materialize in the work of contemporary artists working on deafness and on alternative sonic perception, or by deaf artists working with sound and voice. I will further refer to my research collaborations (ethnographic/ artistic experimentations with deaf and hearing artists), which focus on a systematic exploration of crossovers between artistic work and anthropological research on sound. Part of the material on which the presentation will be based was created and developed in Athens during the last three years, in the context of “Audibility”, which formed part of the wider “B-Air Project: Art Infinity Radio – music for babies, toddlers and vulnerable groups”, a Creative Europe research project.

„Phenomenologies of Embodied Difference“

Disability, deafness, and impaired vision are often clinical labels defined and articulated by the abled; that is, those whose day-to-day activities and considerations are not typically shaped by differences they embody that set themselves apart from the average other. A strictly clinical understanding poses a significant, even existential risk: that the divergent body is understood by society through the lens of pathology rather than phenomenology and psychology; as a disease rather than an experience and an identity; by what a person cannot do rather than what they can. It is historically evident that when a society adopts such a naive view, in the name of a „cure“, it becomes much more capable of harm rather than good. To counteract this, society should take the time to listen to and understand the experience of those who identify as divergent as well as celebrate the communities that have formed around those identities. The way that embodied differences shape creative practices is particularly relevant as artistic voices from these communities not only advocate for a better understanding of the divergent body but often challenge the very foundations of what art is, can be, and what it means to create it. This in turn, can have significant societal impact. In this roundtable, we take the time to share, question, and listen to such experiences in an open, safe space.

Short CV Panopoulos:
Panayotis Panopoulos is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mytilene on Lesbos, Greece. He has worked at Princeton University and the University of California and has taught as a visiting lecturer at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the University of Cologne. In his internationally published research on anthropology of music, sound and performance, he has focused on cultural associations and the symbolic constructions of sound and listening. Panopoulos has also worked intensively on the culture of the deaf community in Greece. His art-based, ethnographic project “Voice-o-graph” (in cooperation with Panos Charalambous) was presented in 2017 as part of “documenta 14” in Kassel and Athens.