With good reason, the 20th century has been described as the century of the avant-gardes, regarding its aesthetic and even some of its political and scientific manifestations. While the historical avant-gardes (approx. 1910-1930) have received a good deal of theoretical attention, the post-war neo-avant-garde is still awaiting a thorough reappraisal of all its transdisciplinary and transnational aspects.
In the wake of the historical avant-garde, the neo-avant-garde undermined genre distinctions (especially those between essay, prose, and poetry) and distinctions between literature and non-literature (other media, arts, etc.). This complex mix challenges the extant textual methods for analysis, such as narratology and poetry analysis.
In 2016 a network of literary scholars from Belgium, France and Austria was set up to shed light on the European neo-avant-garde (ENAG) and discuss its transnational dynamics in biannual workshops. One central aim is to develop a methodology and a toolbox that match the experimental strategies of the texts under scrutiny.

The workshop in Vienna will address theoretical and methodological issues: Canonical theoretical texts on neo-avant-garde (Theodor W. Adorno, Peter Bürger, Hal Foster) will be used to re-read canonical texts of the respective neo-avant-gardist manifestations (Ivo Michiels, Kenneth Goldsmith, Peter Weiss, Konrad Bayer, Andreas Okopenko, Oswald Wiener, etc.). The objective of this endeavor is twofold:

1. To reassess the respective artworks in relation to prevalent theories and
2. To correct and amend the theories where it seems appropriate.

Program

Thu, 6^th April, 2017
Place: Campus Altes AKH, Alte Kapelle, 1090 Wien
Time: 13:00 – 18:30

Hans Vandevoorde: General Introduction: What is the neo-avant-garde?
Lars Bernaerts: On Ivo Michiels
Lieselot De Taeye: On Collage & Montage
Thomas Eder: On Oswald Wiener
Roland Innerhofer, Georg Oberhumer: On Konrad Bayer

Fri, 7^th April, 2017
Place: Literaturmuseum, Grillparzerhaus, 6 Johannesgasse, 4^th floor, 1010 Wien
Time: 10:00 – 14:00

Vincent Broqua: On Kenneth Goldsmith
Inge Arteel: On Peter Weiss
Desiree Hebenstreit, Laura Tezarek: On Andreas Okopenko

This meeting is a collaboration of ENAG, Verein Neugermanistik, and the Department for German Studies at the University of Vienna
Funded by: Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies of the University of Vienna, Research Foundation