Kathrin Dreckmann – författare

The genre of the video clip has been established for more than thirty years, mainly served by the sub genres of video art and music video. This book explores processes of hybridization between music video, film, and video art by presenting current theoretical discourses and engaging them through interviews with well-known artists and directors, bringing to the surface the crucial questions of art practice. The collection discusses topics including postcolonialism, posthumanism, gender, race and class and addresses questions regarding the hybrid media structure of video, the diffusion between content and form, art and commerce as well as pop culture and counterculture. Through the diversity of the areas and interviews included, the book builds on and moves beyond earlier aesthetics-driven perspectives on music video.

The genre of the video clip has been established for more than thirty years, mainly served by the sub genres of video art and music video. This book explores processes of hybridization between music video, film, and video art by presenting current theoretical discourses and engaging them through interviews with well-known artists and directors, bringing to the surface the crucial questions of art practice. The collection discusses topics including postcolonialism, posthumanism, gender, race and class and addresses questions regarding the hybrid media structure of video, the diffusion between content and form, art and commerce as well as pop culture and counterculture. Through the diversity of the areas and interviews included, the book builds on and moves beyond earlier aesthetics-driven perspectives on music video.

Fließende Übergänge, verschwimmende Körper, sich auflösende Substanzen, verflüssigte Sprache – Fluide Mediale rücken eine bisher wenig akzentuierte Genealogie in den Fokus. Inwieweit Fragestellungen nach dem ökologischen Verbundensein von Mensch/Tier/Pflanze/Stein und Umwelt fruchtbar sind, zeigt sich daran, dass anhand des Fluiden nicht nur Begriffsgrenzen verschwimmen, sondern damit auch ein Erkenntnisgewinn zu erwarten ist, der die Fragen nach festen Begriffsaggregaten hinter sich lässt. Insbesondere der Diskurs der Ökologie in der Medienwissenschaft hat deutlich gemacht, dass das Nachdenken über Umwelten neue Denkansätze ermöglicht. Entitäten werden so verhandelbar und anders denkbar. So stellt sich die Frage nach epistemischen und (medien-)archäologischen Prozessen vollständig neu, wenn wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Fragestellungen als dynamische Denkfiguren betrachtet werden. Die Denkfigur des Fluiden führt zu kategorialen Verunsicherungen und Uneindeutigkeiten u. a. des Organischen/Anorganischen, ozeanischer Grenzdiskurse als Machtgefüge, Mensch-Tier-Pflanze-Technik-Kollaborationen, medialer Ordnungen und ästhetischer Figurationen und setzt so die beteiligten kulturtechnischen Operationen in den Fokus des Interesses.

Popular culture encompasses and draws on a rich history of works by musicians, filmmakers, writers, photographers, and performers who question the contours of traditional sexual and gender identities, including but not limited to members of LGBTQIA* communities. When encountered on the stage or screen, for instance, in the guise of drag performances, forms of sexual ambiguity often spark fascination. Yet in everyday life in various socio-cultural contexts, sexual and bodily difference in all its forms is still met with hostility, rendering vulnerable those human beings that deviate from the white, male, straight, able-bodied norm. Queer artists today respond to social stigma in multiple creative ways, for example, by transforming negative affect, fostering a politics of care, and rewriting history. This volume considers how feminist, queer, and trans* musicians, filmmakers, curators, and performance artists contribute to popular culture. It explores the many ways of relating to difference, however this is conceived, that their contributions enable. What affects do their works engender? How do they rouse their audience, and to what ends? How do they fabricate and circulate provocative messages about new forms of gender, race, class, and desire? What other visions do they inspire?

Popular culture encompasses and draws on a rich history of works by musicians, filmmakers, writers, photographers, and performers who question the contours of traditional sexual and gender identities, including but not limited to members of LGBTQIA* communities. When encountered on the stage or screen, for instance, in the guise of drag performances, forms of sexual ambiguity often spark fascination. Yet in everyday life in various socio-cultural contexts, sexual and bodily difference in all its forms is still met with hostility, rendering vulnerable those human beings that deviate from the white, male, straight, able-bodied norm. Queer artists today respond to social stigma in multiple creative ways, for example, by transforming negative affect, fostering a politics of care, and rewriting history. This volume considers how feminist, queer, and trans* musicians, filmmakers, curators, and performance artists contribute to popular culture. It explores the many ways of relating to difference, however this is conceived, that their contributions enable. What affects do their works engender? How do they rouse their audience, and to what ends? How do they fabricate and circulate provocative messages about new forms of gender, race, class, and desire? What other visions do they inspire?

Although digital music videos reach a broad audience and have significantly altered practices of cultural participation, they have not received the scholarly attention that they deserve. Kathrin Dreckmann’s study navigates a complex web of disciplinary intersections, methodological frameworks and reception practices in order to evaluate music videos as sites of cultural production, contestation, resistance and identity construction. This interdisciplinary analysis reflects critically on the Eurocentric canon of art history and illuminates practices of citation, appropriation and reimagination of (so-called) high cultures. Dreckmann explores diasporic histories through a postcolonial lens by focusing on artists such as Beyoncé, Little Simz, Lil Nas X and Janelle Monaé and examines the potential of Black, female and queer empowerment. While numerous introductory texts and compendia have laid the groundwork for the field of media and cultural studies, there remains an urgent need for critical reflection on the methodological paradigms that shape the discipline today. This study’s interdisciplinary approach reflects and expands on methodologies of media and cultural studies and suggests possibilities for exploring and engaging critically with digital audiovisual media and broader sociopolitical discourses.