Dear Subscribers:

In this issue, you will find news about CIMIG events this fall, about goings-on in Graz that invite intermedial perspectives, about recent publications, and other tidbits.

We are happy to report that we have a new CIMIG colleague: Anna Lorenzon, who holds a Master’s degree in English and American Studies from the Universities of Venice and Graz, started working at the center in September. She was also admitted to the University of Graz as a PhD student in English and American Studies. Welcome, Anna!

Michael Meister, who worked at CIMIG as a research assistant from March 2023 through September 2024 and who helped launch this newsletter in 2023, received the annual Fulbright American Studies Award 2025 for his MA thesis on “Intermedial Ecopoetry as Monumental Writer-Activism – Witnessing Slow Violence and Apprehending the Anthropocene in Craig Santos Perez's Habitat Threshold.” We hope to see his thesis in print—maybe in the form of several articles or as a monograph. Congratulations, Michael!

As always, please feel free to send us questions or other input at cimig@uni-graz.at

CIMIG Events

The sixth Climate Change Theatre Action festival is currently going on all over the globe, attracting audiences with its theme “The Time Is Now.” CIMIG will host an event entitled “NOW—AT ONCE—(AS OF) TODAY” at Halle für Kunst Steiermark on December 3 (5–6:30 p.m.). Nestled in the atmospherically expressive and spatiality-focused visual artworks of Argentinian artist Celine Eceiza, students from a drama and theater seminar (taught at the Department of American Studies) will recite several short plays and will invite audience members to engage in a discussion of the affordances and potential impacts of theater in public discourse on matters related to climate change. For further information, see our website and our Instagram-account. (NB)

Intermediality Around Town

Unseen Futures to Come. Fall – September 18, 2025–February 15, 2026 – Kunsthaus Graz, Space02

A library devoted to the concept of autumn/fall which has been set up and put in dialogue with selected artistic positions: This exhibition has been based on philosopher Federico Campagna’s concept of the library being a cyclical representation of the year, explaining how we comprehend the world and how our perceptions of our reality change over time. Specifically autumn is a time of disintegration during which the fear of decomposition leads to a loosening grip on one’s beliefs and certainties; the exhibition utilises this time of (productive) questioning, the natural changing of realities through time. There are twelve installations which comprise the exhibition, spanning photography, video and sound installations, textile work, oil painting, sculpture, and mixed media installations. The artists include Dana Awartani, Federico Campagna, Christoph Grill, Adelita Husni, Marija Marković, Vladimir Nikolić, Yhonnie Scarce, Andrej Škufca, Jože Tisnikar, Sophie Utikal, Bill Viola, and zweintopf. To most completely engage with the exhibition, one should consider what is meant and understood by art, medium, artist, space, material, technique, history and future, message and witness. Of particular intermedial interest and a common feature amongst many of the pieces within the exhibition is the sharing of titles of these works with other external works, such as poetry cycles, political speeches, and paintings. Bill Viola’s video and sound installation which references well-known works of art also provides an interesting opportunity for analysis through intermediality – what is reference, what is adaptation, and what is the implication of either one? Laced throughout the entire exhibition is a scepticism of semiotics which remains enchantingly unresolved. (LN)

Curator: Andreja Hribernik

Literary Tour: “Narrative Moments,” Andreja Hribernik and Julia Hoydis – December 9 – Kunsthaus Graz, Space02

As part of the Unseen Futures to Come. Fall exhibition, Andreja Hribernik, the director of Kunsthaus, and Julia Hoydis, Professor in the English Department of the University of Graz, will be providing a free and guided tour through the exhibition at 5 p.m., focusing on its literary perspectives. (LN)

Poetry Slam: Erste Grazer Lesebühne, VOLT – December 11 – literaturhaus graz

Combining poetry and performance, VOLT is a chance to see some of Graz’s ‘most successful Slam Poets and Spoken Word Artists’ perform. Performers include Sebastian Voves aka Da Wastl, Anna-Lena Obermoser, Klaus Lederwasch, Mario Tomic, and perhaps another special guest. The event starts at 7 p.m. (LN)

Guest Lecture Series (Nov. 6, 13, 20; 3:15–4:45 p.m.)

Prof. Julia Hoydis, who is currently giving a lecture course on “Digital Literature – Hypertext to AI,” has invited three guest speakers to the Department of English (University of Graz, lecture hall HS 11.01, Heinrichstraße 36/II). On November 6, Assistant Prof. Dr. Axel Pichler (University of Vienna) spoke about “Computational Literary Studies: From Annotation to AI-driven Text Analysis” and made a clear case for algorithmic text analysis as an exploratory complement to traditional literary studies methods. The second and third lectures will home in on intermedial phenomena. On November 13, Dr. Anne Korfmacher (Univ. of Graz) will guide us into the world of “Aural Digital Literature: Podcast Close Reading and ‘Close Listening’” and on November 20, Dr. Annika Elstermann (University of Heidelberg, Germany) will present her research on “What Makes a Good Story? Between Participation and Authorial Control in Online Narrative Spaces.” All interested students and colleagues are welcome! (NB)

From the Director’s Desk:

I hope you enjoyed perusing this issue of the Intermediality Messenger. As you can see, whether you are in Graz or elsewhere, there is much to be perceived and thought about, both on and off university campuses. As indicated by the events and the classes, intermediality continues to be remarkably visible at the University of Graz. In this context, I had the pleasure of speaking about intermediality theory at the inaugural conference of a third-party funded project housed at our Faculty of Theology. Prof. Dr. Martina Bär and her team launched their project “Zwischen Bild und Text. Intermediale Geschlechtskonstruktionen und religiöse Geschlechtsnormierungen in der Frühen Neuzeit,” which focuses on how depictions of Martin Luther and his wife engaged in intermedial meaning production by combining visual and verbal texts—and on how this reflects on faith-based conceptualizations of gender. I look forward to seeing this project come to fruition and to keep up the interdisciplinary conversation. 

Thank you for your interest in all things intermedial! 

Sincerely,
Nassim W. Balestrini