Variantology has been conceived as an international research project with the aim of developing a critical appraisal of the established concepts of “media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

”. The concept of a medium is thus opened up to approaches and disciplines that up to now have remained outside the contemporary discourse on media, such as theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, various musicology

Musicology

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...

, aspects of natural sciences, fine arts or classical philology

Classical philology

Classical philology is the study of ancient Greek and classical Latin. Classical philology has been defined as "the careful study of the literary and philosophical texts of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds." Greek and Latin literature and civilization have traditionally been considered...

. Furthermore it is opened up to cultures of knowledge that have long been excluded from the western discourse, like the oriental and arabic-islamic culture. Variantology also attempts to explore how reciprocally these disciplines then become open to thinking in categories and terms of media and communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

. Consequently, the network of research that constitutes the Variantology project involves scholars based in academic institutions as well as artists, musicians and authors.

Theoretical Basis

To come to a different understanding of media, a central part of research is the development of a network of scientists, artists and scholars who are engaged with the "deep time relations“ between arts, sciences, and technologies. The term "deep time relations“ refers to the notion of being a plurality of traversals through the genealogy of what we call media today. The underlying theoretical center is Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...

’s concept of genealogy, which he developed from Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

’s thinking about morality as a historical- and social-generated construction. Foucault's approach in this connection was to comprehend history as a constitution of knowledge, of discourses, of objectification and so on, detached from an idea of historical subjects and previously unquestioned categories of western (Eurocentric) culture and power.

Workshops and Publications

An integral part of the project is the annual international workshop. The first three Variantology workshops were held at Academy of Media Arts Cologne, the fourth one at UdK in Berlin, and the 5th at Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III

Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III

The Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III is a national library of Italy. It occupies the eastern wing of the 18th century Palazzo Reale in Naples, at 1 Piazza del Plebiscito, and has entrances from piazza Trieste e Trento...

in Naples, Italy.

• 2011: Zielinski, Siegfried and Eckhard Fürlus (Editors). Variantology 5 – Neapolitan Affairs. On Deep Time Relations of Arts, Sciences and Technologies (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Koenig). ISBN 9783865608871

• 2010: Zielinski, Siegfried and Eckhard Fürlus (Editors). Variantology 4 – On Deep Time Relations of Arts, Sciences and Technologies in the Arabic-Islamic World and Beyond (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Koenig). ISBN 3865607324

• 2008: Zielinski, Siegfried and Eckhard Fürlus (Editors). Variantology 3 – On Deep Time Relations Of Arts, Sciences and Technologies in China and Elsewhere (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung König). ISBN 3865603661

• 2006: Zielinski, Siegfried and David Link (Editors). Variantology 2 – On Deep Time Relations Of Arts, Sciences and Technologies (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung König). ISBN 3865600506.

• 2005: Zielinski, Siegfried and Silvia M. Wagnermaier (Editors). Variantology – On Deep Time Relations Of Arts, Sciences and Technologies (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung König). ISBN 3883759147