I am head of the Media Lab for Digital Sovereignty at the Filmuniversity Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. I am co-speaker of the Media Philosophy Working Group of the German Society for Media Studies. In my current research project and habilitation “The Art of Digital Sovereignty” I am researching how contemporary art practices reflect the media history of network states and the future of archives in Web3. The project revolves around questions of digital sovereignty, ethics and digital governance, as well as the aesthetics of digital visual culture. I’ve written a book on the relation between creativity and destruction, photography and cultural heritage, and I’ve edited books and journals about media culture of values, Levinas and the arts, media of verification, media and religion, and human-machine relations.

I am currently co-founding a start-up dedicated to the stewardship of digital cultural heritage using Web3 technology. The project was selected by the Spark – Incubation Programme of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Culture & Creativity.

My research is interdisciplinary and ranges from media histories of verification to media theory, digitality, ethics, aesthetics, and future-oriented media practices. I am particularly excited by aesthetic and media practices that combine the archaeological with the creative and future oriented.

As member of the Network for Decent Labour in Academia, I am dedicated to improving the working conditions of academics in Germany. We have issued a statement, and have made proposals for reforming the law governing fixed-term contracts for researchers.

In the past, I have held research positions in various academic institutions, including the Bar-Ilan University (Ramat Gan/Tel Aviv) funded by the Azrieli Foundation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem funded by the Minerva Foundation of the Max-Planck-Society, Charles University Prague, Collegium Helveticum Zurich, and the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin Brandenburg. I did my doctorate at Bauhaus-University Weimar at the Excellence Center for Media Anthropology (KOMA).

Before my doctorate, I studied film studies and comparative literature (B.A.) at Free University Berlin and Sorbonne Paris 3 as well as media studies (M.A.) in a graduate program that combines theory and practice at University of Potsdam & University of Applied Science Potsdam. I also obtained a degree in Design Thinking at the School of Design Thinking at Hasso-Plattner-Institute Potsdam. Before my studies I was an architecture photographer at David Chipperfield Architects responsible for the documentation of the reconstruction of the Neues Museum Berlin (which resulted in a book).

Image: Obliteration © 2023 by Dr. Andreas Sieß is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

JOHANNES BENNKE

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JOHANNES BENNKE

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