On Phenomenology

Denis E. Vargas Gorenkov: Former Teammate and Phenomenology Student/Researcher

Martin Thiering (Expert Guest): rof. Dr. Martin Thiering’s interdisciplinary, difference-theoretical-semiotic approach to meaning-making and shaping processes in multimedia and multimodal environments focuses on communicative, speech- and image-act-theoretical processes, especially in visual media. Prof. Thiering understands these as semiotic practices in media-based application processes and investigates such performative processes in various (neo-)analog and digital media, including, for example, design processes in VR spaces or media framing. The focus is on interactions between cognition and practices in the relationship between the visual and the textual or auditory, using the example of computer games, photographs, films, graphic novels, or architectural designs. Prof. Thiering analyzes the meaning-giving performative practices, among other things, on the basis of gestalt and embodiment theory and phenomenological theories. From Prof. Thiering’s point of view, phenomena such as optical illusions or ambiguous figures are of fundamental importance for the understanding of creative processes. Prof .Thiering’s teaching is inter- and transdisciplinary and open to the critical examination of socially relevant topics such as sexism, racism and classism in the field of visual cultures. In his teaching, he combines theory and empirical practice in an explorative way.