Un/Masking Reflections on a Transformative Process

by Burgholzer, Laurette; Kemp, Judith; Stichnoth, Antonia; Hughes, Bethan; Spangenberg, Johanna; Siegert, Bernhard; Baccanti, Anna; Sheppard, W. Anthony; Döring, Tobias; Wächter, Anja; Lewe, Christiane; Zapf, Eleonore; Hegenbart, Sarah; Cheng, Joyce; Link, F

• ISBN13: 9783958083332
• ISBN10: 3958083331
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-09-30
• Publisher: Neofelis

Summary

This volume focuses on the process of un/masking rather than on the object of the mask, and highlights the performative aspects that render masks catalysts of transition and transformation. Through its ability to simultaneously hide and reveal, the act of un/masking has the power to destabilize supposedly fixed identities and to blur the lines between the self and the other, the visible and the invisible, life and death. In this sense, masks are ambiguous, liminal objects, marking a condition of ‘in-between’ that is both a point of separation and a line of contact. Masking and unmasking are thus intertwined and cannot be neatly separated.
In addressing both historical and contemporary phenomena, Un/Masking offers new perspectives on current debates surrounding issues such as protective masks and facial recognition technologies. To match the incredible variety of cultural contexts in which masks play a crucial role – from ancient theatrical practices to digital technologies, to ritual, artistic, and literary activities throughout the world – this volume takes a decidedly interdisciplinary approach to understanding the act of un/masking and what it can mean today.

Author Biography

n/a n/a Antonia Stichnoth studied comparative literature and film studies at the Free University of Berlin and École Normale SupÉrieure in Paris. Since 2017, she has been a PhD candidate at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where she also works as a research assistant. Her dissertation deals with concepts of ‘reality’ in newspaper inquiries published in the Weimar Republic. She was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York and is an associated member of the International Doctoral Program MIMESIS. n/a Johanna Spangenberg studied comparative literature and musicology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and King’s College London and has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University. She was a doctoral candidate in the International Doctoral Program MIMESIS from 2017–2020 and currently holds a scholarship from the Stiftung Bildung und Wissenschaft (Foundation for Education and Science) to complete her PhD thesis on the relationship between poetry and music in the works of StÉphane MallarmÉ, Pierre Boulez, and Gilles Deleuze. n/a Anna Baccanti studied comparative literature and philosophy at the Free University of Berlin and Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and is affiliated with the International Doctoral Program MIMESIS and the Junior Research Group Creativity and Genius. Her PhD thesis focuses on representations of the creative process in biographical films. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Franziska Link studied comparative literature, philosophy, Finnish language and culture, and Slavic studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Helsinki, and State University in Saint Petersburg. In 2019, she was a visiting scholar at the Pushkin House in Saint Petersburg. She is currently working on her PhD thesis on ‘drastic voices’ in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Louis-Ferdinand CÉline (in affiliation with the International Doctoral Program MIMESIS).