The vampire squid inspired the cultural theorist and philosopher Vilém Flusser (1920-1991), who dedicated his book “Vampyroteuthis infernalis” (1987) to his (bio-)artist friend Louis Bec (1936-2018). This philosophical fiction brings us into the everyday life of this animal – as the ultimate “other” from a human perspective – and analyses different phenomenological events of human life and the links between animality and embodiment.
During the seminar, we will learn about biological taxonomies and take a closer look at the artificial taxonomical system of the “Institut Scientifique de Recherche Paranaturaliste“, founded by Louis Bec and devoted to “studying the incapability of living things to understand their own existence“.