See you at the Holiday Party! Read More »
Past Events
“Teaching Online”: A webinar with Prof. James Skidmore, University of Waterloo
Thursday, June 11th, 3:00 - 5:00 Read More »
Lecture, Jan 30: John Evjen: “Betreutes Leben: Thomas Bo Nilsson and Julian Eicke’s Exploration into the Fiction of Surveillance”
As an installation in the bi-annual Wiesbaden Biennale Theatre Festival, Thomas Bo Nilsson and his partner Julian Eicke created Betreutes Leben, or its alternate title: Ezzelinolivecams.net. The dramatic installation is hinged on three major premises: Ezzelinolivecams.net is a real streaming website... Read More »
Guest Lecture, Oct. 1: David Wellbery on Lessing’s Laokoon
October 1, 2020, 4-6 pm The reading group Ekphrasis in conjunction with the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures is happy to announce the following guest lecture by Dr. David E. Wellbery (University of Chicago). David E. Wellbery will join the reading group on Thursday October 1st, 2020 from 4-6pm to discuss passages from Lessing’s Laokoon oder über die Grenzen der Mahlerey und Poesie (1766) with reference to the overarching theme of ekphrasis. Lessing’s Laokoon has outlived most of its contemporaries in 18th-century criticism and the reason for its abiding influence may well be that it gets to the core conceptual issues with incomparable clarity. Lessing’s Laokoon appears to be foremost an analysis of ekphrastic passages from Vergil in order to critique Horaz’ ut pictura poesis as well as Winckelmann’s idealization of Ancient sculptures and art. What strikes us nowadays about Laokoon is the self-referentiality envisioned in the use of ekphrasis as a critique of an approach intermingling between description/depiction in terms of spatiality and the temporality of narration. As if the critique as genre is to stand apart from aesthetic categories and, thus, would allow for a naïve use of ekphrasis; quite ironic to some extent. In addition, Lessing’s writing as ... Read More »
Guest Lecture, Dec. 3: Christopher D. Johnson: “Beyond Ekphrasis: Warburg’s Mobile Denkräume”
The reading group Ekphrasis: Text – Image Denkräume in conjunction with the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures is happy to announce the following lecture by Christopher D. Johnson... Read More »
Flammkuchen Webinar, December 4, 5pm
Join Tante Stefan for a live webinar on how to make Flammkuchen – a crispy, easy-to-make flatbread from the regions around the French border... Read More »
Dec 18: 6th Annual DAAD German Language Teaching and Learning Workshop
We are delighted to announce the 6th Annual DAAD GLTL Workshop which will be held online this year on Friday, December 18th... Read More »
Lecture, Nov. 12: John Zilcosky on Ekphrastic Writings of the Early 20th Century
The reading group Ekphrasis: Text – Image Denkräume in conjunction with the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures is happy to announce the following lecture by John Zilcosky... Read More »
Lecture, April 8: André Flicker: Dada Cabaret: On the Leap of the Absurd Individual
In this talk I will discuss the rise of the cabaret in the late 19th and early 20th century within current debates surrounding the shift from drama towards theatre and performance studies... Read More »
Adaptation: Teaching 21st Century Skills
DAAD German Language Teaching & Learning Workshop The fourth annual conference offers the chance to learn from experts in the field and to mingle with peers from other Canadian universities in an intellectually stimulating and collegial context. We are especially excited about this year’s line-up of speakers: Daniel Bowles from Boston College, Nicolay Ostrau from Dartmouth College, Maria Morrison from McGill University, James Skidmore from Waterloo University, Jason Lieblang from UBC, and a speaker from the Goethe-Institut Toronto. Coming soon! December 8th and 9th 2018 Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, 1 Devonshire Place Read More »