Theresa Gutmann
Doktorandin
Projekt
Of Evocation and Exorcism — The Hauntology of Multimedial Books (Preliminary Title)
Betreuer*innen
Prof. Dr. Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp
Prof. Dr. Irina Dumitrescu
Derridean hauntology attempts to theorize the ghostly and puts the possibility of an undisturbed present into question. According to Jacques Derrida, no present moment is not haunted by ghostly anachronism, every present is always-already marked by spectral absence. This opens up the question of how haunting takes shape in artworks and specifically, in literature. In my project, I will read contemporary multimedial books in relation to hauntological theory and, therefore, multimediality as a hauntological form. The underlying thesis is that the examined works possess hauntological qualities not only in terms of content, so due to their thematic link to spectrality, haunting and mourning, but furthermore, because of their formal composition. As points of reference, media and phenomena of 19th century spiritualism, such as automatic writing or spirit photography, will be considered in relation to the contemporary multimedial books under observation. These artworks, I will argue, can be read both as works of ghostly evocation and exorcism.
Profil
- since 01/2024
PhD Candidate, DFG Research Training Group 2291 'Contemporary/Literature', University of Bonn - since 10/2023
Media and Fine Art Diploma Candidate, Academy of Media Arts Cologne - 2023
M.A. Theory and Practice of Professional Writing, University of Cologne - 2021
M.A. English Studies and Philosophy, University of Cologne - 2016
Exchange Semester, Ewha Womans University, Seoul
01/2026 Organisation und Moderation Laborgespräch
'Vielfältig Verlegen'
(mit Peri Sipahi)
11/2025 Organisation Conference
'Temporalities and Power: Oppression, Resistance, Justice'
(mit Johann Haberlah, Marie Kallenberg, Sophie Modert, Leandra Ossege und Peri Sipahi)
12/2024 Organisation und Moderation Laborgespräch
'Widerspenstig Kuratieren. Ein Laborgespräch über die unruly readings und den Literaturveranstaltungsbetrieb' (mit Leandra Ossege)
11/2024 Moderation Laborgespräch
'WIR KOMMEN. Kollektives Schreiben (in) der Gegenwart'
(mit Judith Niehaus, Organisation Judith Niehaus)
07/2025 Haunted Modernities Conference, Falmouth University, Falmouth, UK
The Medium and Her Media
11/2024 Situations International Conference: 'Asian Diaspora in the 21st Century: Transnational Hauntology and Affective Production', Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
“a site of perpetual farewell and return” — Haunting and the Geopolitical Poetics of Don Mee Choi’s Hardly War, DMZ Colony and Mirror Nation
"a site of perpetual farewell and return": Hauntological Returns and the Geopolitical Poetics of Don Mee Choi’s Hardly War, DMZ Colony, and Mirror Nation
Situations 18:2 (2025)
Hauntology & Spectrality
Post-Structuralist Theory
Contemporary Poetry
Photography
Multimediality
19th Century Spiritualism