Pop culture as a diagnosis of the times with Barbara Hornberger

Pop is a culture of the everyday. A culture that reacts quickly and directly to the present, and in turn shapes the present discursively and aesthetically. Artists, organisers and audiences are equally involved in this process, as artistic work and its reception negotiate essential questions of the time, and debates are initiated and advanced. Culture in general, and popular culture in particular, is therefore an essential means for society to assert itself, to negotiate norms and values, and to create individual and collective meaning.
Conversely, when we look at popular culture, both historical and contemporary, we can say something about the time in which it is created, in which it is popular, in which it is relevant. Pop, whether progressive, rebellious, subversive, hedonistic, affirmative or ambiguous, offers us a diagnostic view–of our history and our present.
The keynote will discuss how this time-agnostic quality of pop is grounded–and what it means for our approach to and understanding of pop.