We are interested in tying the notion of rhythm to similar materialist temporal concepts of ‘difference-with-repetition’ such as (dark) refrains, cycles, formulas, vibes, motifs, flows, and of course memes. How are acoustic/environmental concepts used to register the flows of contemporary digital culture (including ideas of ‘ambience’ and ‘resonance’ deployed after the affective/new materialist turn in media studies)? How can we move beyond the static network visualization to capture the wild innovations of online slang or the becoming-viral of a hashtag or conspiracy theory? What would a genuinely ‘rhythmic media theory’ look like?

In the group’s inaugural iteration we read two short chapters on rhythmanalysis by the French Marxist philosopher of everyday life Henri Lefebvre: ‘The Critique of the Thing’ and ‘The Rhythmanalyst: A Previsionary Portrait’. We also had an open discussion on the reading group’s key theme(s) and potential future readings. From this we planned the following sessions for the coming academic year (readings will be distributed two weeks in advance of each session).

Semester I:

• Rhythms, vibes, and other musical metaphors (4 October)
• Affective rhythms: Refrains and formulas (8 November)
• Rhythm, cybernetics, and media art (6 December)

Semester II:

• ‘Algorhythms’ and platforms (31 January)
• Rhythm and (digital) methods (28 February)
• Rhythm, politics, propaganda (28 March)

Sessions will take place on Fridays from 15:30 to 17:30 (location tbd). Please register by sending an email to d.dezeeuw@uva.nl.