Additional Contact Information
Originally from the Bergische Land (Nordrhein-Westfalen), I studied German literature, history and communication at the Freie Universität Berlin. As part of my undergraduate programme I went on an Erasmus exchange to the University of Vienna. After my Magister Artium I completed a doctorate in German literature. Having worked as a tutor for GfL (German as a Foreign Language) in the private sector in Berlin, I went to the University of Sheffield as DAAD-Lektorin in 2012. In autumn 2016 I came to Bangor University.
Teaching
At the Freie Universität Berlin and the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin I offered several modules on Political Studies and German Literature of the 20th century. As a DAAD-Lektor at the University of Sheffield (2012-2016) I taught modules on contemporary German culture and media, post-wall German art, film and performance, as well as modules on contemporary German literature. Alongside this research led teaching, I have been teaching German language at all levels (ab initio to near native competence) since 2011. At Bangor University I continue teaching German language at all levels, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in my field of research expertise, this includes e.g. the modules "Culture in Context" (LXE 1600); "The German Film" (LXG 2008), "Performing Germany" (LXG 3036), "German Avant-Garde" (LXM 4037) and "Critical Theory" (LXM 4001).
In my teaching, I prefer to integrate artistic practices, such as Happenings and Creative Writing exercises. I do not only understand this kind of pracice based learning as best practice in teaching, but first and foremost, I want to show my students that the revolution starts with ourselves and inside ourselves. It is this revolution of the self which I consider as the key experience of life, and of university life in particular. I was nominated for the Special Recognition Award.
Research
My current research interests are 20th and 21st century Avant Garde, with a focus on performance. Here, my core research considers the German film maker, theatre director and actionist artist Christoph Schlingensief (1960-2010). In this regard I am also particularly interested in the political potential of art and how contemporary artist interfere in the public sphere.
I am also engaged in diversifying the critical thinking methods in academia by engageing with artistic research methods. In this context I co-founded the Avant Garde experimental art collective NWK, kindly supported by Deutsch-Walisische Freundschaft.
One further creative writing projects is a performative writing exercise in which both Welsh and German are explored in their shared knowledge about Fluxus art. For this purpose, I invented a new literary genre called "Verifiction". This critical method is informed by Avant Garde strategies and has shown suitable for uncovering hidden knowledge in language.
Further research interests lie in the interrelations of literature and architecture and, more generally, in the history, culture, politics and literature of post-1945 Germany, including the former GDR. In my doctoral thesis I look at metaphors of building and dwelling in post-war and contemporary German literature and culture. In addition I am interested in contemporary German literature in general.
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
Publications
2021
- PublishedDer Zuschauer als Schaffender. Christoph Schlingensiefs filmische Sehschule
Pogoda, S., 15 Nov 2021, Arbeit am Bild: Christoph Schlingensief und die Tradition: Schlingensief and Tradition. Scheinpflug, P. & Wortmann, T. (eds.). Fink Verlag, p. 43-66
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedRezension: Lore Knapp, Formen des Kunstreligiösen. Peter Handke— Christoph Schlingensief
Pogoda, S., 16 Dec 2021, In: Forum Modernes Theater. 32, 2, p. 308-310
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review - PublishedRezension: Rosmarie Zeller, “Letztenendes bleibt doch nur die Kunst.” Studien zu Christoph Geisers Texten.
Pogoda, S., Oct 2021, In: Gegenwartsliteratur. Ein germanistisches Jahrbuch (A German Studies Yearbook).. 20
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review - PublishedThe Redundancy: Ein Produktionsbericht
Pogoda, S., Jan 2021, Klassengesellschaft reloaded und das Ende der menschlichen Gattung.: Fragen an Heiner Müller. Strehlow, F. & Ette, W. (eds.). Theater der Zeit, p. 139-169 30 p. (Recherchen; no. 154).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2020
- PublishedDeutsch Walisische Freundschaft: Neue Walisische Kunst
Pogoda, S., 15 Apr 2020
Research output: Non-textual form › Web publication/site - PublishedGermany is not Texas. Finding reunified Germany in the Rural: Christoph Schlingensief’s The German Chain Saw Massacre
Pogoda, S., 4 May 2020, Cine-Excess, 4.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article - PublishedSentencing and Disembowelment of Surrealism by NWK
Pogoda, S., 23 Aug 2020
Research output: Non-textual form › Performance - PublishedWer über Schlingensief redet, muss selbst von ihm gepackt sein! Christoph Schlingensief und die künstlerische Forschung
Pogoda, S., 1 Aug 2020, Christoph Schlingensief: Resonanzen. Höving, V., Wortmann, T. & Holweck, K. (eds.). Munich: text+kritik, p. 154-171
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2019
- PublishedGame developers' approaches to comunicating climate change
Walton, S. P., Williams, C., Pogoda, S., Reynolds, D., Gerson, S. A., Foltz, A. & Begum, T., 20 Jun 2019, In: Frontiers in Communication. 4, 14 p., 28.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedKünstlerische Avantgardeforschung und Institutionskritik in Christoph Schlingensiefs Müllfestspiele (1996), Seven X (1999) und Erster Attaistischer Kongress (2002)
Pogoda, S., 25 Mar 2019, Christoph Schlingensief und die Avantgarde. Knapp, L., Lindholm, S. & Pogoda, S. (eds.). Fink Verlag
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter - PublishedThe Redundancy: A site specific, multimedia, non-participatory performance
Pogoda, S., 2 Jun 2019
Research output: Non-textual form › Performance
2018
- PublishedAlexander Kluge - Lighthouses into Futurity: Alexander Kluge – Goleudai i Ddyfodiant
Pogoda, S., 29 Aug 2018
Research output: Non-textual form › Exhibition
2017
- PublishedBranding the new Germany: The Brandenburg Gate and a new kind of German historical Amnesia
Pogoda, S. & Traxler, R., Nov 2017, Cultural Topographies of the New Berlin. Bauer, K. & Hosek, J. (eds.). Berghahn Books
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedDeutschland in den Sand setzen: The transformative metaphorology of Searching for Germany '99
Pogoda, S., 28 Jun 2017, Art of Wagnis: Christoph Schlingensief’s Crossing of Wagner and Africa. Lehmann, F., Siegert, N. & Vierke, U. (eds.). Vienna: Verlag für Moderne Kunst, p. 77-88
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2015
- PublishedChristoph Schlingensiefs Grenzüberschreitungen. Die Wiener Aktion Bitte liebt Österreich. Erste österreichische Koalitionswoche und Elfriede Jelineks Kasperlestück Ich liebe Österreich
Knapp, L. & Pogoda, S., 2015, In: Germanistische Mitteilungen. 41, 1, p. 75-89
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedGermany Surrenders
Pogoda, S., 11 May 2015
Research output: Non-textual form › Performance - PublishedThe Bellotograph Project
Pogoda, S., 2015
Research output: Non-textual form › Web publication/site
2014
- PublishedVon Baumeistern, Anti-Architekten und Anarchitektur
Pogoda, S., 2014, Text-Architekturen: Die Baukunst der Literatur. Krause, R. & Zemanek, E. (eds.). Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 223-236 14 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
2013
- PublishedDemiurgen in der Krise: Architektenfiguren in der Literatur nach 1945
Pogoda, S., 1 Sep 2013, Berlin: Ripperger & Kremers . 352 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
2011
- PublishedPeter de Mendelssohn: Intellektueller zwischen den Stühlen und vergessener Romanautor
Pogoda, S., 2011, Verfolgt und umstritten! : Remigrierte Künstler im Nachkriegsdeutschland. Grisko, M. & Wenzel, H. (eds.). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, p. 213-222 9 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2009
- PublishedDer lustwandelnde Tantalos: Christoph Geisers texterotisches Dürsten
Pogoda, S., 2009, In: Mauerschau. 2, 2, p. 45-59 15 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2008
- PublishedErzählerische Kontingenzverwaltung bei Gregor Hens
Pogoda, S., 2008, Literatur der Jahrtausendwende: Themen, Schreibverfahren und Buchmarkt um 2000. Zemanek, E. & Krones, S. (eds.). Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, p. 225-234 9 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Activities
2022
- Posthumanismus. Transhumanismus. Jenseits des Menschen?
Presenting paper: Metamorffosis – Multiformale Expeditionen in, mit und durch The More Than Human
27 May 2022
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Re-imagining Class
Presenting paper "Reading the Neoliberal University as a Socialist Production Play"
6 May 2022
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Small Scale Solutions – How Artists Respond to Covid and Climate Crisis
Invited Talk at Centre for Modern Language Research Seminar at the University of Aberdeen
30 Mar 2022
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - Small Scale Solutions: Re-Inventing the Live Event
Has Covid-19 killed the live event? Many in the Creative Industries fear so (e.g. Biado: 2020), and there is evidence to suggest that audiences will only gradually return (e.g. Audience Agency 2021). The creative responses from arts practitioners during the Covid-19 lockdowns are therefore likely to be central to the revitalisation of public engagement with live arts events following the pandemic. Can we say with confidence: ‘Long live the live event!’? Post-Covid, the live event will certainly be different. Our online conference aims to share ideas, experiences and findings around new kinds of art event. We are particularly interested in small scale events which are not mainly pursued online. Together we will explore the diverse creative responses which have emerged to meet the challenges presented by the pandemic in relation to live events, audience engagement and the creation of ‘liveness’. The online conference will bring together arts practitioners, audiences, stakeholders, funders and researchers.
21 Feb 2022 – 22 Feb 2022
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker)
2021
- This Buoy‘s Life
Exhibition which explored more than human agency and how non-living things trigger re-imagining our relationship to the world.
29 Nov 2021 – 18 Dec 2021
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor) - GERMAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION
I am presenting a paper on Christoph Schlingensief's theatre production "100 Years of the CDU" (1993, Volksbühne Berlin)
3 Oct 2021
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Der Mann im Fahrstuhl
Invited to screen my film "The BUoy in the Elevator" (a production of NWK).
5 Sep 2021
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - Peter Lang (Publisher)
Kongressakten der IVG im Jahrbuch für Germanistik - Sektion 21 "Kontinuitäten der Avantgarde seit 1900"
1 Aug 2021 – 30 May 2022
Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member) - IVG 2020 Internationale Vereinigung für Germanistik -
Organisation and Facilitating Section on Traditions of the Avantgarde from the 18th century until today.
30 Jul 2021 – 31 Jul 2021
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Metamorffosis Festival
An international festival for Gwynedd and Anglesey for exploring new and experimental arts formats (film, music, art, performance, poetry, dance, puppetry, photography et.al.) to sustain arts communities during a pandemic. Part of the AHRC funded research project "Re-Inventing The Live Event".
21 Jun 2021 – 27 Jun 2021
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor) - Metamorffosis Festival
A Festival in Gwynedd and on Anglesey exploring new and experimental formats developed by arts practitioners under Covid-19 restrictions for live events (indoors and outdoors). Music, Art, Performance, Dance, Film, Happenings, Talks, Workshops and more.
21 Jun 2021 – 27 Jun 2021
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor) - Dada. Or: How to treat your hobby horse with multi-lingual soap.
In this unit students learned about one of the most radical European art movements from early 20th century: Dada. They got an idea how Dada was an artistic response to World War I. By looking at representative art works they gained insights on how Dada’s open-minded and multi-lingual nature generated a transformative force which is still echoing in today’s world. Some DIY activities made them challenge their understanding of art and might have resulted in them re-inventing themselves as a Dadaist. At the end of this unit, we discussed on how language learning is not only about communicating with others from all over the world, but how it is also an entrance point to so far unknown spaces of creativity, critical thinking and fun.
18 Jan 2021
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)
2020
- Fluxus Café
Interactive Workshop with collaborating local artists to introduce Fluxus, Neue Walisische Kunst (NWK) and share ideas how art changes with Covid-19.
16 Nov 2020
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor) - Open Mike 2020. Poesiewettbewerb (Event)
Member of TAZ Jury
11 Nov 2020 – 12 Nov 2020
Activity: Membership of committee (Chair) - AGS - Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland (External organisation)
AGS Treasurer
1 Sep 2020 →
Activity: Membership of committee (Chair) - PhD External Examiner
For Artistic Practice Based PhD
28 Jul 2020
Activity: Examination (Examiner) - Verifiktion
Verifiktion ist ein Wortspiel aus den Begriffen Verifikation und Fiktion. Der Begriff soll die Amalgamierung der Bereiche der Wissenschaft und der Kunst verkörpern, ist also der künstlerischen Forschung zuzuordnen. Zugleich nimmt er sich seiner selbst als Paradoxon – ein Verifiktiontext behauptet gewissermaßen auf Grund seiner Fiktionalität einen Sachverhalt zu beglaubigen, also zu verifizieren. Darin angelegt ist auch die Verunsicherung, was ein wahrer Sachverhalt ist und wo die Erfahrung von Wirklichkeit beginnt: im Handeln oder im Denken (=Schreiben).
Hinzuzufügen ist: Wir sind der Freundschaft verpflichtet, eingeschworen auf das Deutsch-Walisische (siehe Veriguhtvränds).
20 Apr 2020 →
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor)
2019
- Klassengesellschaft reloaded
Presenting Paper on Artistic Research Project "The Redundancy", entitled: "Künstlerische Forschung im Unvereinbaren. Die neoliberale Universität als sozialistisches Produktionsstück"
10 Sep 2019 – 11 Sep 2019
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Cracking the established Order
Giving a Lecture Performance on my Artistic Research Project "The Redundancy" at "Cracking the established Order" conference in Leicester.
26 Jun 2019 – 27 Jun 2019
Links:
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Treat Art with Dada
This public lecture is part of a Gallery series of public talks on "Art and Words". My lecture performance will introduce the audience to aesthetic strategies of the Dada-movement (early 20th century) within the tradition of the Avant Garde. Here, I will particularly focus how Dada coaxed the creative power of words beyond their common mean to communicate meaning.
8 Jun 2019
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor) - Institutional Critique in Contemporary Theatre and Performance
Drawing on a theoretical framework informed by Weber, Virno, Fraser, Negri and Hardt, the paper will critically engage with aesthetic tactics and strategies for institutional critique and transformation in contemporary theatre and performance. Here, I will discuss works by German Christoph Schlingensief, and the Stuttgart based project The Institution as “instituent practices” (Raunig).
2 May 2019
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - Sich einrichten. Zur Poetik und Semiotik des Wohnens seit 1850
Sich einrichten. Zur Poetik und Semiotik des Wohnens seit 1850", Jahrestagung der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Kulturtheorie und Semiotik (SGKS)
11 Apr 2019 – 13 Apr 2019
Links:
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - In conversation with ...
Book Launch: Anna Saunder "The Memorialization of the GDR".
Author (Prof. Anna Saunders) in conversation with Sarah Pogoda
31 Jan 2019
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Moving Stories von Gwynedd and Anglesey
This student-led research and outreach project aims to create a documentary film on stories of German migrants in Gwynedd and Anglesey. The Department of Modern Languages and Cultures won an intern who will reach out to the German speaking Community in North Wales, research people´s migrational biographies. Collaborative the intern will shoot a documentary to give this group of North Wales community its voices and images. In challenging times for migration stories we want to strengthen our links with the community.
28 Jan 2019 – 30 Jun 2019
Activity: Other (Advisor) - The Transformative Power of Performance
Presentation on my Artistic Research Project in the context of the one day networking workshop "Building a Collaborative Artistic Research Alliance"
24 Jan 2019
Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker)
2018
- Public Engagement as Social Structure - Research as Art in Public Engagement
I will talk about my involvement with Artistic Research and Public Engagement (e.g. with the "Bellotograph Project in Sheffield 2015 - www.bellotograph.jimdo.com -, or the Exhibition "Lighthouses into Futurity" in Bangor 2018). My talk will include critical revision of activities and future prospects for Artistic Research and Public Engagement by drawing on post-marxist theories on New Labor and Creative Industries.
25 Oct 2018
Links:
- http://www.bellotograph.jimdo.com
- http://www.lighthousesintofuturity.jimdo.com
- http://www.beltanenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Engaging-Publics-leaflet-2018-002.pdf
- Alexander Kluge Lighthouses into Futurity
Exhibition and Event 29.8.2018-12.9.2018 in Pontio, Bangor, tri-lingual (Welsh, German, and English), including short stories, minute films and talk with artist.
Exhibition introduces the work of Germany´s most influential living writer and filmmaker Alexander Kluge to a Welsh audience for the first time.
Alexander Kluge is one of the main figures in New German Cinema, Critical Theory and Storytelling in the 21st Century.
Exhibition includes a booklet.
29 Aug 2018 – 12 Sep 2018
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor) - Recording video interview with Alexander Kluge
Video Interview with influential German writer, film maker and intellectual Alexander Kluge
21 Jul 2018
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Arbeit am Bild Christoph Schlingensief und die Tradition
Presenting paper on "Reden über das Bild als Archäologie des Selbst bei Christoph Schlingensief"
18 May 2018
Links:
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - May 68 Film Weekend
Presented academic introduction into the Film "Marianne and Juliane" ("The Two Sisters"/ Die bleierne Zeit)
6 May 2018
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor) - Die Wunde Woyzeck. Müller lesen!
Presentation on Heiner Müller´s speech "Die Wunde Woyzeck" (1985) and his understanding of Woyzeck in class struggle
20 Jan 2018
Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker) - XIV. Kongress der Internationalen Vereinigung für Germanistik (IVG)
I am organizing and chairing a panel on theories of the avant garde
1 Jan 2018 – 2 Aug 2019
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker)
2017
- Communicating the complexities of climate change
This project aims to test the following two hypotheses:
1. Interactive video games are an impactful way to disseminate research and educate the public on the complexities of climate science.
2. The choice of language used to communicate climate science can have a significant impact on the success of communicating climate science.
1 Dec 2017 – 31 Aug 2018
Activity: Other (Contributor) - WiGS - Women in German Studies (External organisation)
WIGS was established in 1988 with the aim of bringing together female Germanists in Great Britain and Ireland and supporting them in all aspects of their professional life. Membership is open to any woman who is currently teaching, studying, or working in any area of German Studies, or who has done so in the past.
1 Jun 2017 →
Links:
Activity: Membership of committee (Member) - Welsh Crucible
Welsh Crucible is an award-winning programme of personal, professional and leadership development for the future research leaders of Wales.
Funded by a consortium of Welsh universities, in partnership with the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, there is a high demand for places on Welsh Crucible from researchers who are beginning to demonstrate excellence in their respective fields.
Every year, 30 researchers are selected to participate in a series of residential workshops or ‘skills labs’ where participants explore how they can benefit from working with researchers in other disciplines, how their research can have greater impact, and how they can build international research careers in Wales. Participants continue to build collaborations with each other beyond the formal programme and the Welsh Crucible alumni network enables connections to be made between cohorts.
25 May 2017 – 14 Jul 2017
Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course (Participant) - Christoph Schlingensief and the Avant-Garde
26 Apr 2017
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Invited talk (Speaker) - Christoph Schlingensief und die Avantgarde (Event)
Co-Editor of edited volume: Christoph Schlingensief und die Avantgarde
1 Feb 2017 – 31 Dec 2018
Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member) - Fink Verlag (Publisher)
Co-Editor of "Christoph Schlingensief und die Avantgarde"
21 Jan 2017 – 30 Sep 2018
Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member)
2016
- Christoph Schlingensiefs Politik der Autonomie
Invited Paper to talk about the relations between art, avant-garde and politics in the work of Christoph Schlingensief
5 May 2016
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Invited talk (Speaker) - Christoph Schlingensief und die Avantgarde
Co-Organisor with Jasmin Degeling, Dr. Lore Knapp. Participant with Paper Chair for Introductory Panel and Final Remarks
1 Feb 2016 – 4 Feb 2017
Activity: Participation in conference (Organiser)
2015
- The Bellotograph Project
Artistic Research project which explored practices of commemoration in the UK and Germany in respect to the end of WWII. Practices and theories of post-memory were explored by academics, artists, students and the public in three different events (Happening, Round-Table and Artistic Workshop).
8 May 2015 – 12 May 2015
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor)
Projects
-
Re-inventing the Live Event with Local Art Communities: Covid-19
01/06/2021 – 30/09/2022 (Active)
-
"Year of the Sea" Assessing Changes in Marine Ecosystems through Literature, Arts and Law
01/12/2017 – 01/08/2019 (Finished)