Julia Hoydis
Extinction Narratives – Narratives of the (Im)possible Ends of our World
Video
Due to the acceleration of climate change, we are currently facing the threat of various species’ extinction, as a direct influence by human, and hence anthropogenic forces. In literature and other art forms, we increasingly find ideas and stories that respond to the interlinked crises of species extinction, biodiversity loss and climate change. Extinction is a complex phenomenon, not only scientific, but cultural too, and the way it is dealt with reflects prevailing ideas about the relationships between humans, animals and the (environment).
In her lecture, Julia Hoydis will explore how fictional narratives deal with hope, loss and end-time scenarios against the backdrop of endings and finiteness, which manifest itself through hope and acceptance, but also through resilience and solutions. Drawing on various media such as novels, plays, dance performances, films and video games as examples, she further investigates, how countermeasures such as de-extinction are depicted, for example through genetic engineering experiments and species protection. Prevailing narrative patterns, some of them dystopian or elegiac, are also taken into account.
In particular, Hoydis will discuss how literature can contribute to the socio-political debates on intergenerational and environmental justice. How can the potential of extinction narratives be utilized? She will also discuss how extinction narratives and their function as cultural models of (im)possible endings of our current world are always linked to predictions and values.
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Artists
Participating artists
Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Julia Hoydis
has been Professor of English Literature from the 18th to the 21st century at the Department of English Studies at the University of Graz since 2024. She previously taught at the Universities of Klagenfurt, Cologne, Duisburg-Essen and Cambridge. Her research interests include the history and development of the English novel, narrative theory, literature and (natural) science (especially risk theory), posthumanism and recent digital narrative forms (including literature and AI), postcolonial studies, and ecocriticism/environmental humanities. Her current research focuses on climate change narratives, including in the Austrian Science Fund FWF-funded joint project Just Futures? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Climate Models (2023 – 2026), which deals with questions of intergenerational justice and ideas of climate futures in various media.
Her book publications include Climate Change Literacy (with Roman Bartosch and Jens Martin Gurr, Cambridge University Press, 2023), Risk and the English Novel (De Gruyter, 2019) and Tackling the Morality of History: Amitav Ghosh and the Ethics of Storytelling (Winter, 2011). Since 2019, she has been editor of Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies and Vice President of the German Association for English Studies (2022 – 2025). In addition to her academic career, she holds a diploma in classical and modern stage dance (Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, London, 2000), and also worked as a freelance dancer in Cologne and Aachen until 2016.
More contributions
Hans-Christian Dany: Oswald Wieners Überlegungen zum Spannungsfeld von Dandyism, Paranoia und KI, als frühe Ahnung der gegenwärtigen Probleme der großen Sprachmodelle mit Autophagie, Halluzinationen und dem Habsburg-Effekt
Video
As part of the exhibition A. I. O., Hans-Christian Dany approaches Oswald Wiener’s work from a contemporary perspective. Taking Die Verbesserung von Mitteleuropa, ein roman (The Improvement of Central Europe, a novel) as his starting point, he connects Wiener’s reflections on dandyism, paranoia, and artificial intelligence with today’s experiences with generative AI, and explores the unique resonances that Wiener’s speculative thinking continues to evoke in the present.
Exhibition Tour
A.rtificial I.ntrospection O.
Video
A.rtificial I.ntrospection O. explores the conditions of thinking, perception, and consciousness at the intersection of cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and self-observation, bringing Oswald Wiener’s ideas into dialogue with artistic positions from different generations.
Michael Krebber talks to Sandro Droschl
Video
As part of the exhibition A.rtificial I.ntrospection O., Michael Krebber speaks with Sandro Droschl about his artistic practice and his engagement with the writings and conceptual models of Oswald Wiener.
Nicola Cipani, Thomas Eder
On Oswald Wiener’s « die verbesserung von mitteleuropa, roman »
Video
As part of the accompanying program for the exhibition A. I. O., the two renowned Oswald Wiener experts Nicola Cipani and Thomas Eder will discuss Die Verbesserung von Mitteleuropa (1969).
A.rtificial I.ntrospection O.
Exhibition Tour
Slide show
The exhibition A.rtificial I.ntrospection O. (A.I.O.) explores questions of thought, perception, and subjectivity at the intersection of introspection, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence. Its point of departure is the work of the Austrian writer, cognitive psychologist, and cybernetician Oswald Wiener (1935 – 2021), whose genuine thinking since the 1950s critically navigated between these fields while systematically resisting institutional appropriation.
Dr. Brigitte Borchhardt-Birbaumer
Susanne Wenger’s painting between Africa and Europe
Video
In her lecture, art historian and curator Brigitte Borchhardt-Birbaumer examines Susanne Wenger’s work as a transcultural Gesamtkunstwerk that bridges European modernism and Yorùbá ritual practice, creating a new sacred aesthetic that merges art, ritual, and cultural boundaries.
Kathy Rae Huffman
FROM CYBERFEMINISM
UNTIL NOW
Video
Kathy Rae Huffman’s lecture traces the evolution of cyberfeminism since the 1990s: it connected women in the digital sphere, challenged existing power structures, and presented examples — from VNS Matrix to contemporary digital activism — that highlight critiques of platform corporations, AI cultures, and global inequalities.
Xol Meissner
Concert
Video
New York-based artist Xol Meissner — the alter ego of composer Mauro Hertig — has transformed the HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark into a hypnotic soundscape of extraordinary intensity with his haunting music, which oscillates between contemporary classical and avant-garde rock.