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.

German Literature of 20th and 21st Century German Theatre and Performance Art (20th and 21st Century) Avant-Garde and Neo-Avantgarde Movements Christoph Schlingensief Interrelations between Architecture and Literature Institutional Critique Artistic Research

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2015

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

2011

2009

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

2023

2022

  • Verifiktion

    Collaborative Seminar with University of Bielefeld (Germany)

    6 Dec 2022

    Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Research and Teaching at External Organisation (Contributor)
  • Placing Experiment: Losing, Gaining and Shifting Ground.

    Co-organising conference and presenting paper.

    3 Dec 2022

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Autopsy of the Avant Garde

    Co-performance with Wanda Zyborska and Lisa Hudson (artists) for performing an autopsy on the Avant Garde, informed by insights from previous artistic research into the question of contemporary practices appropriating or vitalising Avant Garde(s).

    16 Nov 2022

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor)
  • Mit - Kunst - Spielen. Kunst - Spielen - Mit - Kunst – Spielen – Mit – Kunst

    Lecture Performance on Art, Inclusivity and "NWK" (Celf Newydd Cymru, New Welsh Art).

    2 Nov 2022

    Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)
  • Evangelische Hochschule Berlin

    Invited visit to EHB University (Berlin, Germany)

    31 Oct 2022 – 5 Nov 2022

    Activity: Visiting an external academic institution (Visiting researcher)
  • CLIMATE RESILIENCE PROJECTS

    Panel Member for Final Session

    11 Oct 2022

    Links:

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Meeting of the European Associations for German Studies

    Knowledge Exchange and Networking Meeting with European Associations for German Studies

    28 Sep 2022

    Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Contribution to the work of national or international committees and working groups (Contributor)
  • 27. Deutschen Germanistentag 2022

    Presenting paper entitled: "Die Flucht des Ausdrucks vor dem Zwang zum Sinn in dem multimedial-literarischen Forschungsprojekt Verifiktion"

    27 Sep 2022

    Links:

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Float some, Jettison other. Fluxus by Buoys, Beuys and NWK (Neue Walisische Kunst)

    Float some, Jettison other.

    Fluxus by Buoys, Beuys and NWK (Neue Walisische Kunst)

    From Ynys Faelog to Wylffa B, from Menai Bridge to Nagasaki, from Pontio to Pentraeth, buoys navigate us through tides and times, marking hidden hazards and safe shelters.

    Anchored in local history, the buoys on display drift with currents of global history or they delimit visitors exploring the altitudes of radiant aesthetics and flux semantics. All artworks home in local history and its global wavelengths.

    This exhibition is result of artistic research into process-oriented trajectories semiotic translations of the Avant Garde to Northwest Wales.

    9 Sep 2022 – 19 Sep 2022

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor)
  • Metaboliaeth

    Combined Arts Festival

    19 Aug 2022 – 21 Aug 2022

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor)
  • Wrappening - Introduction Performance to Wim Wender‘s "Alice in the Cities"

    Performance and introductionary talk to Wim Wender‘s 1974 film "Alice in the Cities" at Pontio (Bangor).

    Providing missing links between Wim Wender‘s and the city of Wuppertal (Germany).

    31 Jul 2022

    Links:

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor)
  • Hopeful Modernism

    Presenting paper "Fluxus is Luxus. Translating Avant Garde into Wales" at "Hopefiul Modernism" conference

    25 Jun 2022

    Links:

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • From Avant Garde to Afon Gad – Artistic practices in Wales. Now and then. A conversation performance for Direct Art

    We are delighted to invite you to an open conversation with artists Lindsey Colbourne, Peter Davies, Lisa Hudson, Pete Telfer and Wanda Zyborska.

    Together we will dive into a conversation about contemporary arts practices in Wales and their predecessors. We would be delighted if you want to join our conversation and share your memories of arts events which stayed with you throughout years and decades.

    Where and when: Bangor, Pontio, PL2, 22.6.2022, 5:30-7pm.

    * In 1972, German Fluxus artist Joseph Beuys decided to contribute a durational performance of 100 days to the Documenta 5 (Art World Exhibition in Kassel, Germany). For the so-called Office for Direct Democracy Beuys spent 100 days discussing together with visitors various social design issues relating to direct democracy. Conversation as art. To some extent, we will draw on his idea of art as emerging through conversation.

    One of my arts memories which stayed with me was the so-called “Boxing Match for Direct Art” in May 2021 on Ynys Faelog in Menai Bridge. Joseph Beuys and Max Boyce fought for Direct Art as Direct Debit. By doing that Beuys and Boyce somehow re-enacted the “Boxing Match for Direct Democracy” which Joseph Beuys and Abraham David Christian fought on the very Documenta 5 on October 8 1972. Beuys won – both times.

    22 Jun 2022

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor)
  • From Avant Garde to Afon gad

    Do you remember when Paul Davies (Grwp Beca) and a group of arts students from the Arts foundation course at Bangor went to Llyn Alaw on Anglesey for co-creating a muddy Map of Wales? Or do you remember 1977 when Meredydd Davies, Maeyc Hewitt, Wil Jones, Stephen Davies, Celyn Davies and Alan Holmes and others shot their Super 8 splatter films in various locations around Bangor? Or have you been on High Street in June 2021, when Rhona Bowey, Lindsey Colbourne, Lisa Hudson, Emily Meilleur, Steph Shipley and Wanda Zyborska, all dressed as social -distancing crones roamed Bangor, handing out cake and plants? Or maybe you witnessed how – one lockdown day in 2020, a silver when a group of five crone dressed women were handing out cake and flowers on Bangor High Street, or do you recall a silver Suzuki Alto was floating through Maesgeirchen, its drivers spreading poetry into the streets with a megaphone?

    Wales bears millions of these odd moments, when something not quite normal happens, art emerges and changes place and time, sometimes only for a short moment, sometimes for weeks, sometimes forever. But too often these moments are not well documented, remain oral history or anecdotes ... or often fall into oblivion. Oblivion ... too often a Welsh thing.

    We want to change this, we seek for bringing these moments back to life ... in conversations, in revisiting sites, in re-enacting – and we are seeking for making the past, the present and the future dance together. Maybe we will realise that there is a Welsh tradition of Avant-Garde art practices out there – maybe under the radar, but as relevant as ever.

    Sarah Pogoda invites artists, members of the community and academics to explore Avant-Garde arts practices in Wales, their history and our memories of predecessors. With a series of events – ranging from performances, discussions, artistic experiments to talks – Sarah wishes to start the collective exploration this early summer. Please do join her. All events are free of charge, some are bi-lingual, some might not, some are multi-lingual, some are not.

    If you cannot make it to one of the events, but you still have stories, documents, photos, film or other you want share, please get in touch with Sarah.

    1 Jun 2022 – 31 Jul 2022

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor)
  • Posthumanismus. Transhumanismus. Jenseits des Menschen?

    Presenting paper: Metamorffosis – Multiformale Expeditionen in, mit und durch The More Than Human

    27 May 2022

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Re-imagining Class

    Presenting paper "Reading the Neoliberal University as a Socialist Production Play"

    6 May 2022

    Activity: Participation in Academic 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 Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Peter Lang (Publisher)

    Peer Reviewer for Peter Lang

    8 Feb 2022 – 1 Dec 2022

    Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member)

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 Academic 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 Academic 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 Academic 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 Academic 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 Academic 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

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 Academic 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 Academic 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)