On the Intersection of Theory and Praxis

Konstantin Haensch received his M.A. in Communication in Social and Economic Contexts from Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin), supported by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. At UdK Berlin, he later worked as a Research Assistant and completed his dissertation project under the guidance of Thomas Düllo and Franz Liebl on the design & strategy history of the connected smart speaker in 2022.

He has taught B.A. and M.A. courses at UdK Berlin, HTW University of Applied Sciences Berlin, and the University of Potsdam. From 2020-23 he held a graduate stipend from the German Department at Princeton University, where he currently completes the M.A. program. Since March 2023, Konstantin has been a Professor of Design Management at HAWK – University of Applied Science and Arts in Hildesheim.

Situated at the interdisciplinary nexus of aesthetics, media culture, design, and economics/strategy, his research looks into the connections of various epistemologies and materialities that constitute objects of modernity, such as “entrepreneurship,” “interfaces,” and current design and creative dispositifs.

Konstantin Haensch also has a particular interest in the Chinese and East-Asian histories of media and economics. In this context, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong anthropology department as part of a research project on urban ethnography and cultural geography and presented a paper at the Crossroads Cultural Studies conference at Shanghai University.

Outside academia, he worked as a designer, tech startup founder, branding executive in a digital platform company, and independent strategy consultant. He is the founder and co-editor of the 8-volume book series texturen (Berlin), ‘Uncanny Issues’ (Hamburg), and co-editor of Genealogy of Media-Thinking (Berlin). 

 

Editorial Work

Book Series “texturen. Buchreihe für texturale Artikulationen”

Genealogy of Media Thinking

Uncanny Issues

Writing

Conferencing

  • Workshop Participation: “Boundary Project,” 2022, at: Berlin University of the Arts, Germany and University of Oxford, England
  • Conference Organization: “Akustische Interfaces Konferenz,” 2022, at: Medientheater, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
  • Conference Moderation: “Panel 3 – Utopia and Idyll Today,” 2021, at: Idyll and Utopia Conference, Princeton University, USA
  • Conference Presentation: “‘Smart Home’, ‘Home Automation’ und ‘Shy-Tech:’ Neue Interface-Räume des alltäglichen Unheimlichen und medialen Horrors,” 2021, at: Tagung Horror Medien Räume, University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
  • Conference Presentation (postponed): “‘Interfacing Spaces:’ Impacts of the Customer-Centricity Paradigm in Technological and Cultural Environments,” 2020, at: Crossroads in Cultural Studies, University of Lisbon, Portugal
  • Lecture: “Materialität der Medien und Medialität der Dinge. Transformationen der Dingwelt im Ubiquitären Computing,” 2019, at: Ringvorlesung zu aktuellen Fragen der Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftskommunikation, Berlin University of the Arts Berlin, Germany
  • Conference Presentation: “Von der Materialität digitaler Medien zu der Digitalität alltäglicher Materialität am Beispiel von Smart Speakern,” 2019, at: Jahrestagung der Sektion Medien- und Kommunikationssoziologie, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie, University of Gießen, Germany
  • Conference Presentation: “Interface-Dinge. Normalisierungen von datafizierter Materialität,” 2019, on the panel “Materialitäten des Interfaces” at: GfM Jahrestagung 2019 “Medien-Materialitäten,” University of Cologne, Germany
  • Conference Presentation: “From Unfamiliar to Familiar. Processes of Normalization through TV/Web-Video Content on the Example of Smart Speakers,” 2019, at: Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies – The Future of Democracy in the Digital Age, University of Bonn, Germany
  • Participation: “ACS Summer Institute 2019 – The Future of Publics,” 2019, at: Association for Cultural Studies Summer Institute 2019, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany
  • Conference Presentation: “‘Echoes’ in our ‘Home.’ Aspects of the Uncanny of a new Class of Everyday Objects,” 2018, at: Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 2018, Shanghai University, China
  • Presentation: “Das Unheimliche der Schnittstelle,” 2017, at: 3. Promotionskolloquium der Fakultät Gestaltung, Berlin Centre for Advanced Studies in Arts and Sciences, Berlin, Germany
  • Conference Presentation: “The Magical Interface – Objects in Cinema as Foreshadowing of Modern Interaction Technology,” 2014, at: Interface Critique Conference, Berlin University of the Arts, Germany
  • Exhibition: “Bilder von Einheimischen,” 2014, at: Festival Steirischer Herbst, Institut des Steierischen Herbstes, Schaumfabrik Graz and Vienna, Austria

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