1. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities Joint Session with Steen and Bent Contemporaneities

2. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities Paul Virilio’s Two Perspectives The perspective of real time The perspective of real time Tele-contact Tele-contact Reaching and feeling at a distance Reaching and feeling at a distance The perspective of real space The perspective of real space Seeing and hearing at a distance Seeing and hearing at a distance

3. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities The perspective of real space

4. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities The fifth dimension = the perspective of real time (?) Picasso, Femme a la montre (1932)

5. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities The concept of ”loss of orientation regarding alterity (the other)” Some Uses of ”contemporary” Some Uses of ”contemporary” –Institute of Contemporary Art –Contemporary Magazine –Contemporary Writers –The Centre for Contemporary British History –Terry Eagleton

6. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities The Institute of Contemporary Art Key words: Key words: –Artistic products, works of art. –New –Exploration –Shape –Adventure –Tomorrow

7. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities The Institute of Contemporary Art “4. a. Modern; of or characteristic of the present period; esp. up-to- date, ultra-modern; spec. designating art of a markedly avant-garde quality, or furniture, building, decoration, etc., having modern characteristics (opp. PERIOD n. 15)”. (OED) “4. a. Modern; of or characteristic of the present period; esp. up-to- date, ultra-modern; spec. designating art of a markedly avant-garde quality, or furniture, building, decoration, etc., having modern characteristics (opp. PERIOD n. 15)”. (OED)

8. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities Contemporary Magazine Key words: Key words: –Emerging galleries –The institutions of art –Appearing, materialising, coming forth –The future becoming present

9. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities Contemporary Writers Key words: Key words: –”most important living writers” –The producers of art –Contemporary writers are alive –Not all living writers are contemporary –Only important living writers are contemporary

10. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities The Centre for Contemporary British History Key words: Key words: events of the 20th century : the past events of the 20th century : the past

11. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities Terry Eagleton, ”After the Wake” (2005) It [liberal humanism] remains, however, an extrordinary powerful influence in the contemporary English novel, as it does in the English theatre. For all their manifest differences, it is the world-view which unites Ian McEwan and Fay Weldon, A. S. Byatt and Martin Amis, Julian Barnes and Rose Tremain. It is, in a word, the official ethical and political doctrine of literary London – a remarkably resilient, deep-seated consensus which has survived a whole series of historical upheavals, and which helps to determine what counts as acceptable belief or fiction today. It is an honourable world view, humane, enlightened and morally serious. Whether it is adequate to a globalized world of terrorism and transnational corporations is a different question.” (337)

12. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities Terry Eagleton, ”After the Wake” (2005) Genre or institution Genre or institution The contemporary does not exist The contemporary does not exist It is dead or irrelevant It is dead or irrelevant It is untimely or out of sync It is untimely or out of sync

13. Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages and Culture Contemporaneities The uses of ”contemporary” A symptom of a fundamental loss of orientation? A symptom of a fundamental loss of orientation? A device in your construction of a narrative: products, institutions, producers, events? [Exclusive device; selection and significance (good, relevant, valuable)] A device in your construction of a narrative: products, institutions, producers, events? [Exclusive device; selection and significance (good, relevant, valuable)]