Apr 26, 2009
Jaap Kooijman has received the ASCA Book Award 2009 for Fabricating the Absolute Fake: America in Contemporary Pop Culture (AUP 2008). The annual award is given to an outstanding book published by a member of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA). In Fabricating the Absolute Fake, Kooijman examines the global dominance of American pop culture and its local appropriations. Written in an accessible style, the book cleverly shows how politics and popular culture are intertwined. The author perceives Americanization as a dynamic process, recognizing both its imperialistic character as well as its promise for productive appropriation on local level.
Recently, Kooijman has promoted the book by giving public lectures, including a keynote lecture at the Appropriating America, Making Europe conference of the European Science Foundation in Amsterdam (16 January 2009), and book talks at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of Minnesota (10 March 2009) and the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University (6 April 2009).
tags ASCA award, Fabricating the Absolute Fake posted in News
Oct 22, 2008
What happens if we perceive the American presidential elections from the perspective of pop culture? By comparing the spectacle of politics to reality television shows such as American Next Top Model and American Idol, the construction of the media personality and its star myth becomes visible. Just like other media personalities, politicians are the most convincing when they succeed in “being themselves,” thereby providing the illusion of authenticity. Although these media events are not the same - obviously the next American president will have a greater impact on global political reality than any next American top model or pop idol - some of the media strategies are remarkably similar. On October 23, Jaap Kooijman will give a lecture on this topic at the Roosevelt Academy in Middelburg. On the evening of the elections, November 4, he will give a lecture at SPUI25, join a debate at CREA, and reflect on the rhetoric of hope at the infowarroom in the Melkweg.
tags Infowarroom, Presidential Elections, SPUI25 posted in Lecture, News
Oct 15, 2008
What impact has 9/11 had on the visual arts and how do artists depict the post-9/11 world? Often the terrorist attack of 9/11 and its political and military aftermath are interpreted as an appeal to artists to leave their ivory towers and produce politically engaged art dealing with the social impact of the war on terror, as in the abuse of Abu Ghraib prisoners for example, the complicity of the mass media in war propaganda, or the introduction of rigid national immigration policies and the rise of an ‘economy of fear’. On the other hand, Karlheinz Stockhausen called 9/11 ‘the ultimate artwork’. There appears to be a perpetual fascination with the visual spectacle triggered by this and successive attacks. How do these two reactions relate to one another? How does contemporary art relate to art from other periods dominated by social conflict and disorder? On Tuesday October 28, W.J.T. Mitchell, Professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago, and visual artist Sean Snyder will talk on this topic as part of the Now is the Time lecture series. The discussion will be moderated by Jaap Kooijman.
tags 9/11, Now is the Time posted in Debate, News
Aug 8, 2008
On 7 August 2008, Petra Possel interviewed Jaap Kooijman about his book Fabricating the Absolute Fake on the radio 1 talkshow Kunststof. With fragments of songs ranging from USA for Africa’s “We Are The World” and Mariah Carey’s “The Star-Spangled Banner” to Lee Tower’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and Gerard Joling’s “At Your Service,” the discussion focuses on the Americanization of Dutch popular culture and the dominance of America in global pop culture. One of the talkshow’s traditions is to have the guest write down “words of wisdom” on a tile. Jaap cited the late singer Paul Jabara, who sang in his disco classic “Never Lose Your Sense of Humor” that “instead of the plumber, I called Donna Summer.” In other words, instead of always opting for practical solutions, answers sometimes can be found in art or pop culture. Click here to listen to the show.
tags Fabricating the Absolute Fake posted in News
Jul 31, 2008
As part of the Amsterdam 2008 session, the participants of the European Summer School in Cultural Studies have visited the SMBA exhibition Beyond Paradise, curated by Delphine Bedel and Ayako Yoshimura, in collaboration with Jelle Bouwhuis. The visit included a session with the curators in which they explained the motivation behind the exhibition: “The starting point of this exhibition stems from the paradox that tourism still involves romantic, if not paradisiacal imagery, whereas the tourist experience is actually shattered by all kinds of forces that haunt our daily lives: commercialism, gentrification, the complex entanglement of migration and tourist destinations, war, and fear of terrorism.” Beyond Paradise runs until 7 September 2008.
tags Beyond Paradise, ESSCS, SMBA posted in News
Jul 11, 2008
On 17 June 2008, at SPUI25, Jaap Kooijman presented the first copy of his book Fabricating the Absolute Fake: America in Contemporary Pop Culture to José van Dijck, dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. Before that, personal reflections on the book were presented by Stine Jensen, Pieter Kottman, and Bas Heijne. Since then, Kooijman has been interviewed about the book on several radio shows, including Casa Luna, DeSmet Live, De Avonden, Hoe?Zo!, and BNR. To listen to these shows, go to the media page of this website. Fabricating the Absolute Fake has been published by Amsterdam University Press.
tags Fabricating the Absolute Fake, SPUI25 posted in News
Jul 7, 2008
This year, the session of the European Summer School in Cultural Studies takes place in Amsterdam. The 2008 session of the ESSCS takes “forms of life” as its signature term and core theme proposing to explore how past conceptions and present perceptions of “life” have manifested themselves in cultural practice and theory, and how they are likely to change in the future. While also referring to earlier uses of the concept (Wittgenstein), we will use “forms of life” to move beyond the nature versus culture divide – re-mapping the human and non-human, matter and mind, people and things, art and life, zoe and bios, form and process – and explore how culture inflects all forms of life, their objective study and analysis, as well as their performative presence, through enactment, embodiment and self-reflexivity. Moreover, we will strive for a critical analysis of the procedures and figures that give life intelligible form.
tags ESSCS posted in News
Mar 27, 2008
Timing could not be better (or worse). On 27 March 2008, just one hour after the notorious internet film by Geert Wilders was released online, the debate on Fitna started in SPUI25. To jumpstart the discussion, statements were made by Frank van Vree, Jaap Kooijman, Herman Pleij, and Jeroen Bons. Rather than focusing (too much) on the film itself, the debate resulted in the discussion of the responsibility of the media professionals, politicians, and academics to move beyond the media hype and address the issues at hand. In a strongly polarized political and public debate, there is little room for nuance, not in the form of denying political realities, but as an attempt to open up rather than close the debate.
tags Fitna, SPUI25 posted in Debate, News
Nov 22, 2007
What is the role of the filmmaker? Should he or she get actively involved in the public debate or maintain an artistic distance? With the work of Dogma 95 filmmaker Lars von Trier as starting point, Jan Simons (author of Playing the Waves), Tarja Laine (author of Shame and Desire), and filmmaker Eddy Terstall (Rent a Friend, Simon, Sextet) discuss how the notion of the filmmaker as autonomous auteur relates to film as a medium of political engagement. The discussion will be moderated by Jaap Kooijman. Eddy Terstall will show scenes from his upcoming film Vox Populi.
tags SPUI25 posted in Debate, News
Nov 4, 2007
As part of the Amsterdam Museum Night (3 November 2007), a debate took place at SMBA about contemporary iconoclasm, focusing on the use of images in the public domain by highly diverse social groups such as Christians, Muslims, and feminists. How does iconoclasm relate to image censorship and normative standards? Can we actually speak of iconoclasm in the age of information? Moderated by Pieter Hilhorst, the panel included Afshin Ellian (professor of law, philosopher, and poet), Yves DeMaeseneer (theologian connected to the Leuven university), Stine Jensen (literature studies and author connected to the Free University, Amsterdam), Jaap Kooijman (Media and Culture studies connected to the University of Amsterdam), Sven Lütticken (art critic connected to the Free University, Amsterdam) and Peter Jan Margry (historian/antropologist connected to the Meertens Instituut). Click here for a transcription of the panel discussion (in Dutch).
tags SMBA posted in Debate, News
