Anja Breljak

The dissertation project “Sensitive Media. A Media History of Sensitivity 1750-2020” examines the media-historical role of sensitive matter. Based on the historical use of animal bodies and their specific sensitivities in scientific experiments, it shows how sensitive media emerged from the mid-18th century and were increasingly used in the production of knowledge: Sensitive media are characterized by a specific reactivity to certain effects and have shaped the course of experimental science in a decisive way since the 19th century. From their use in electricity theory, to air physiology experiments in coal mines, to the pharmaceutical testing of drugs, operationalizations of sensitive media can be found right up to the present day. Even today, in times of sensor-based networked media technologies such as the smartphone, sensitive media play an essential role. Here, where the technical sensitivity of our devices and their sensors becomes essential for their functioning, a complex techno-affective media structure emerges that makes use of the responsiveness of users and environments. The analysis of the historical entanglement of media and sensitivity aims at a more comprehensive understanding of our media-technological present and its becoming.

Research focus

Body and media history, history of knowledge and science, theories of affect and power, violence, extractivism, post-structuralism and performative art & criticism

Anja Breljak studied philosophy and economics in Berlin, Paris and Sarajevo. She then worked as a research assistant at the Open Topic Professorship for Legal and Constitutional Theory at the TU Dresden, and looked into computer science while studying part-time. She works between disciplines, organizing and moderating events in the fields of political economy, performative philosophy and digital society.