MINDFUCK – MEDIEN, MUSIK UND MANIPULATION

Lecture/concert on manipulation in and through music and media

Propaganda is an art form that makes use of manipulation via the media. This can either be done on an artistic level, purely for entertainment purposes, or to pursue political ambitions, in which case it may have deadly consequences. This duality is specifically highlighted in the event ‘Mindfuck – Media, Music and Manipulation’.

It aims to offer the audience literary, musical and performative encouragement to question their own perception of reality and fiction. To do this, we have invited the writer and media scholar Dr. Christian Hardinghaus, who will recite passages from his provocative early work ‘Mindfuck Stories’. He will be accompanied by the musicians Carin Levine (flute), Christina Bernhardt (vocals), Daniel Gutierrez (cello) and Johannes K. Hildebrandt (piano) with music by Helmut Lachenmann, Farzia Fallah, Johannes X. Schachtner and Johannes K. Hildebrandt.

In the second section of the evening, devoted more to theory, Hardinghaus will address the risks of politically motivated war propaganda underlined in his current book ‘Kriegspropagan- da und Medienmanipulation’ (War Propaganda and Media Manipulation). The audience will be introduced to the methods and techniques required to detect attempts at manipulation. A suitably attuned artistic and musical accompaniment will sharpen the audience’s abilities to distinguish between aestheticisation and demonisation and to decode these using their own responses.