Associate Professor, Ph.D., cand.mag., MA
Phone:
(+45) 3527 7643
E-mail: troels.degn.johansson@dkds.dk
Attached to
Research and Artistic Practice
Functions
Research, teaching & supervision
Teaching
For now, I am teaching the Media Theory course (4th term, new curriculum, 6th term, old curriculum). Previously, at the IT-University's post-graduate program in Design, Communication, and Media I gave courses in Digital Aesthetics and Communication, Spaces and Geographies of the Internet, and Virtual Worlds. Additionally, I have been teaching film and pictorial semiotics at post-graduate level and film and media theory at graduate level at the Department of Film & Media Studies at the University of Copenhagen.
Supervision
The mantra for my approach to teaching and supervision has been "study-based research" ("Undervisningsbaseret forskning"). Obviously, as a researcher, I facilitate research-based studies, but as a researcher and a teacher I much prefer supervising projects where students identify and solves problems and in this way performs research themselves. This leads students to set off from their own interest, to take responsibility for their own learning in a more fundamental sense, and makes students and teachers work together on more equal terms. I have written a couple of scientific articles along with students, and I would very much like to develop this kind of pedagogy further at the design school.
Research Projects
My research focuses on the relationship between aesthetics, design, and (new) media; firstly with reference to the formal aesthetics of specific media, secondly with reference to the particular aesthetic experience and subjectivity that is based by means of new media, and thirdly in respect of how new media may be taken to re-constitute culture. A fundamental 'McLuhanian" thesis in my work is thus that our media are constitutive to our culture and the way we experience reality, and that new media may bring about displacements of cultural and epistemic constitutions.
An important theme in my work is the status of the Picture and its current development in media and culture. This track has been following the development of photographic media from the "liberation of the filmic image" from narrativity in the so-called "new cinema projects" after World War II (Italian neorealism, French nouvelle vague, Neue Deuscthe Kino, etc,), the parallel realistic orientation in film and photo-theory, and, later on, the digitalization of photography and the new media for pictorial distribution (the Internet, mobile telecommunication, etc.) as a technical condition and an artistic, cultural, and theoretical focus. This work sets off from general pictorial theory, film and photo-theory, and pictorical semiotics, aesthetics, and phenomenology. In a sense, my work makes out an exploration of realistic positions in theories of film and photography and may as such be taken for a continuation of the works of Barthes, Pasolini, Deleuze, and Bazin. At Danmarks Designskole I would like to develop my research into pictures to concentrate also on the image as a design tool and the significance of pictures for design as cultural production, e.g. by studying how images are actually used in design processes-from the visualization of visions and design concepts to a material of documentation-and how images may create a world around the designed object and thus contribute to a surplus value and the cultural fetishizing in connection to branding, consumer trends, etc.
A second important theme in my research is digital aesthetics-a field which partly covers the formal aesthetics of computer media, that is the specific character as a means of expression, and partly how our culture, experience, and thinking are influenced by the networked computer. I have, among other things, written about the artistic exploration of the computer as a means of expression, e.g. in terms of net-art and software art, and I have previously, due to my affiliation to the IT-University in Copenhagen taken part in the establishment of computer games research in Denmark, say with projects on strategy and simulation games, level design, computer games as a rhetorical phenomenon in short entertainment items on the world wide web.
I am especially interested in the way the computer and its networks have become an integrated part of our everyday environment, and that the computer in this way has contributed to a reconstitution, or "remediation", of our perception of space and time. I have worked especially here with geography and the so-called geographical information systems' (GIS) influence on our perception of landscape and urban space-not least with reference to the space-place dichotomy, that is place and the specific character and authenticity of a local area, and the remediation of place through information technologies and networks. This part of my work sets off from research in space-place dichotomies in human geography and anthropology (de Certeau, Casey, Tuan, Auge, Olwig, etc.) and has so far primarily oriented itself towards planning, that is "urban design" og "landscape design".
Another track in my research is my collaboration with Copenhagen based art group Superflex and its affiliates (www.superflex.dk); a collaboration which began in 1999 in connection with the development of the Supercity project (Karlskrona2/Wolfsburg2)-the use of a geographically based 3D MUD/virtual worlds concept for public participation in urban planning. My connections with Superflex have gradually developed over the years. This Fall term 2004 I worked together with Superflex, when the group was affiliated temporarily as artists in residence at the IT-University of Copenhagen. Here, along with a team of students we developed a beer brand based on the open source principles in software development-that the recipe of the beer should be made available in the same way as software developers may make the code accessible for colleagues beyond institutional borders in order to improve quality and public access to new tools in information technology. In this way, the project contributed to Superflex' current interest in the relationship between property rights, public and artistic interests.
My research at the design school will be oriented towards the "Materiality and Interaction" theme, cf, the school's Research Plan 2003-2006. I will primarily be affiliated to the Department of Communication Design.
Short resume
2005- Associate Professor, Danmarks Designskole/Centre for Design Research.
2001-2004 Assistant Professor and Head of Studies at the IT-University of Copenhagen, Department of Digital Aesthetics and Communication. Co-founder of the Centre for Computer Games Research at the ITU and the national education in computer games design (DADIU). Projects on computer games, digital aesthetics, and art group Superflex.
1999 Research visit by the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London.
1999-2000 President of the Nordic Summer Universitet. Coordinator of the Nordic Summer University's network in aesthetic studies 1996-2004.
1999- Establish collaboration with art group Superflex in connection to their Supercity/Karlskrona2-project.
1998-2000 Ph.D. Scholar at the Danish Forest and Landscape Research Institute, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Ministry of Environment and Energy. Project on web-based visualization of changes in landscapes and urban space with special reference to pictorial representation and virtual/cybernetic geography.
1995-1997 External lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Film & Media Studies.
1994-1995 Project affiliate at the Copenhagen Culture 1996 Foundation. Project on the aesthetics and culture of facades with reference to Frederiksberg, Copenhagen.
1991-92 MA i Psychoanalytic Studies in the Humanities, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
1987-1994 Cand.mag. in Film Studies, University of Copenhagen.
Selected publications
Books:
Johansson, T.D. & Bäckström Eds. (2003). Sense and the Senses in Aesthetics. Helsinki, NSU Press in association with Söderström Press.
Johansson, T.D., Steinskog, E., & Kristiansen, C.K. Eds. (2000). Ruinøs modernitet. Århus, NSU Press.
Johansson, T.D., Rendtorff, J.D, Overrein, A. Eds. (2000). Kritik og krise. Nordisk Sommeruniversitet i 50 år. ("Criticism and Crisis: Nordic Summer Univers ity in 50 Years", in the Scandinavian languages). Århus: NSU Press.
Johansson, T.D. Skov, M., Pedersen, B.B. Eds. (1999). Iconicity - A Fundamental Problem in Semiotics . NSU Press.
Johansson, T.D Ed. (1996). Frederiksberg fra Gaden. Københav: Arkitektens Forlag. Bogen udvalgt til bogkunstforeningens udstilling, Årets Bogkunst, på Kunstindustrimuséet forår 1997. Også udgivet som lydbog.
Johansson, T.D. & Lars Bo Kimergård Eds. (1991). Sekvens 91 - Filmvidenskabelig Årbog: Lars von Trier. Department of Film & Media Studies, University of Copenhagen.
Theses:
Johansson, T.D. (2003). Landscapes of Communications: Pictorial Representation in the Visualisation of Landscape Change in Web-Served Computer-Mediated Communications. PhD Thesis. Danish Forest and Landscape Research Institute/KVL.
Johansson, T.D. ( 1994). The Subject of Cinematography. On the General Possibility of Deconstruction in the Linguistic Semiotics of the Cinema. Department of Film & Media Studies, University of Copenhagen.
Articles:
Johansson, T.D. (2004). "Principper for level-design af multi-player first-person shooters. In Carsten Jessen and Bo Walther Kampmann (Eds.) Spillets verden . Copenhagen: Danish University of Education Press.
Johansson, T.D. ( 2003). 'The Virtualization of Place: Art, Culture, Technology. In Proceedings from AoIR 2004: Broadening the band. Toronto, 16-19 Octber. URL: http://www.aoir.org
Güttler, C. & Johansson, T.D. (2003) "Principles of Level Design in Multi-Player First Person Shooters." In Sugih Jamin (Ed.) NetGames 2003: Proceedings from the Second Workshop on Network and System Support for Games. May 22-23. Electronic Arts/Redwood City. ACM ISBN: 1-58113-734-6
Johansson, T.D. (2 003). "Vertigo and Verticality in Super Monkey Balls". In Frans Mäyrä et al. (Eds.) Level Up: Proceedings from the First International Conference on Computer Games Research. Utrecht; University of Utrecht/Digital Games Research Association.
Johansson, T.D. & Bäckström, P. "The Senses , Aesthetic Experience, and Art." In Troels Degn Johansson & Per Bäckström (Eds.): Sense and the Senses in Aesthetics. Helsinki, NSU Press in association with Söderström Press. Helsinki.
Johansson, T.D. ( 2003). "The Tactile Image: A Veronican Approach to Pictorality in Michel Serres' Aesthetics of the Senses." In Troels Degn Johansson & Per Bäckström (Eds.): Sense and the Senses in Aesthetics. Helsinki, NSU Press in association with Söderström Press.
Johansson, T.D. (2003a. Interview by curators Barbara Steiner and Doris Berger on the Danish art group Superflex and their works Karlskrona2, Superchannel, etc. In Barbara Steiner et al. (Eds.) Superflex/Tools. Köln: Walther König, pp. 239-245.
Johansson, T.D. (2 002). "The Cyber-Geographic Image: Pictorial Representation in the Visualization of Landscape and Urban Space in Web-Served Computer-Mediated Communications." In Proceedings from AoIR 2002: URL: http://www.aoir.org.
Johansson, T.D. (2002c). 'Agents in the Landscape of Communication: Experience and Categories of Space in Web-Based Visualization of Landscapes in Landscape Planning Communication.' In Erich Buhmann et al. (Eds.): Trends in GIS and Virtualization i Environmental Planning and Design. Heidelberg: Herbert Wichmann. Revised version in English of 'Aktører i landskabet' (2000)
Madsen, H. & Johansson, T.D. (2002). "Gameplay Rhetoric: A Study of the Construction of Satirical and Associational Meaning in Short Computer Games for the WWW." In Frans Mäyrä (Ed.) Computer Games and Digital Culture: Proceedings. Tampere: Tampere Universitry Press.
Johansson, T.D. (2 002). 'The New Image: On the Temporality of Photographic Representation after Digitalization.' In Frank Nack et al. Eds. CoSIGN2002: The 2nd International Conference on Computational Semiotics for Games and New Media. Augsburg: Universität Augsburg. Revised version in English of "Det nye billede."
Johansson, T.D. (2000). 'Det dobbeltes tid: Allegori og metafiktion i David Lynch' Lost Highway.' In Ruinøs modernitet. Troels Degn Johansson, Claus Krogholm Kristiansen og Erik Steinskog (Eds.), Aarhus, NSU Press.
Johansson, T.D. ( 2000). 'The Painting of the World. On the Cinematic Mediation of the Visual Drive Object in Lacan.' - PS - Journal of the Universities' Association for Psychoanalytic Studies, Summmer 2000, Vol 3, No. 1.
Johansson, T.D. ( 2000). Visualization in Cybergeography. Reconsidering Cartography's Concept of Visualization in Current User-centric Cyber-geographic Cosmologies. Working Paper No.17 from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. CASA, University College London.
Johansson, T.D. (2 001). 'Visualising Relations. Superflex' Relational Art in the Cyberspace Geography.' In Cai Rongchen et al. (Eds.): Report from the Asia Europe Forum 2000: Culture in the Cyber-Age. Asia-Europe Foundation. Kyongju, South Korea, October 23 - 25, 2000.
Johansson, T.D. (2000). 'Det nye billede. Om fotografiets temporalitet efter digitaliseringen.' Tidsskriftet Periskop 9. Department of Art History and Theatre Studies, University of Copenhagen. B
Johansson, T.D. (2000). 'Aktører i kommunikationslandskabet. Kommunikation og rumoplevelse i Internetbaseret landskabsvisualisering.' In Per Grau Møller et al. (Eds.) Aktører i landskabet, Odense University Press.
Johansson, T.D. (1999). 'YK2?' Essay for the Superflex Tools exhibition, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, 7 December 1999 - 27 Februar 2000.
Johansson, T.D. (1999). (co-author: Martin Skov). 'Iconicity and Semiotics: Introduction.' In Iconicity - A Fundamental Problem in Semiotics. Troels Degn Johansson, Martin Skov. and Berit Brogaard Pedersen (Eds.), Aarhus, NSU Press.
Johansson, T.D. (1999). 'Towards a Meta-Rhetoric of Pictorial Media. Specificity, Pictorality, and Compound Signs.' In Iconicity - A Fundamental Problem in Semiotics. Troels Degn Johansson, Martin Skov. and Berit Brogaard Pedersen (Eds.), Aarhus, NSU Press.
Johansson, T.D. (1998). 'Det åbne kommunikationslandskab'. Byplan 4-5.
Johansson, T.D. (1998). 'Points of Departure. Modern Film Theory and Its Postmodern Psychoanalytic Critique - with Roland Barthes.' In René Rasmussen (Ed.) Civilisationens ubehag. Psykoanalysen og kulturen. Aarhus: NSU Press.
Johansson, T.D. ( 1998). 'Geographical Hypermedia. A New Context for Audiovisual Media on the Internet.' Sekvens 98 - Audio-Visual Media in Transition, Department of Film & Media Studies, University of Copenhagen.
Johansson, T.D. (1998). 'Landskabsskildring og rumgestaltning i Lars von Triers spillefilm.' Landskab 2.
Johansson, T.D. (1996). 'Det metafysiske stakit.' In Frederiksberg fra Gaden. Troels Degn Johansson (Ed.), Arkitektens Forlag, København.
Johansson, T.D. (1995). 'Vacancies. Hotel Pro Forma and the Architecture of the Event.' Essay for the catalogue published in connection with performance theatre Hotel Pro Forma's realisation of the piece, Snevides Billede, in Paris, Maj 1995. Translated into the French as 'Chambres livres', by Lars Thomasen.
Johansson, T.D. (1995). 'Konstruktionens begær og teknik i litteraturvidenskaben og i den analytiske praksis.' In Maria Fitger (Ed.) Psykoanalytiske aktualiteter. Aalborg: Skrifter fra Nordisk Sommeruniversitet.
Johansson, T.D. (1994). 'Dette er ikke en historie'. Kosmorama 40: 210.
Johansson, T.D. (1991). 'Mise en Obscène.' In Sekvens 91 - Filmvidenskabelig Årbog. Department of Film & Media Studies, University of Copenhagen.
