Angst im Gespräch – Wissenschaftliches Panel

Interdisciplinary research panel at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in collaboration with the DFG network Forms of Fear and the Institute of Sociology at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

As a thematic event focusing on film and art, we are particularly interested in engaging with academic discourse. Whilst at previous Werkleitz Festivals and Biennials this engagement took place primarily within the individual artistic projects of the festivals and in the catalogues (as was the case, for example, with Happy Believers and AMERIKA), we wish to intensify the interdisciplinary examination of the theme of fear.

We have therefore, in cooperation with the network Spielformen der Angst and the Institute of Sociology at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, invited seven academics to present and discuss the current state of academic research. The panel’s scope ranged from the media representation of fear, as studied in the humanities and cultural studies, to the ‘real’ fears of people, which are the subject of sociological research. The difficult definition of the term ‘fear’ was addressed, as was the representation of fear in the visual arts and feature films.

The sociological section of the panel addressed the quantification of fear in statistics, ranging from contemporary trends in criminology to fundamental reflections on prevention and deliberate ignorance as ways of dealing with fear.

A field trip to the contaminated chemical site in Bitterfeld examined fear in situ (see the event Fear in Situ).

Contributions

Dr Lars Koch (University of Siegen): DFG Network ‘Forms of Play in Anxiety’

Prof. Dr Andreas Käuser (University of Siegen): Fear: Concepts and Media

Prof. Dr Sabiene Autsch (University of Paderborn): Showing Fear

Dr Julia B. Köhne (University of Vienna): Is it only a movie? Representations and transformations of fear in horror and science fiction films of the 1960s and 1970s
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Bröckling (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg): Prevent or Restore? On Prevention

Katrin Harm (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Sociology): Fear Reflected in Statistics

Dr. Matthias Gros (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research): No Fear of Not Knowing

Prof. em. Dr. Dr. H.C. Fritz Sack (University of Hamburg): The Staging of Fear