Sven Olov Wallenstein

sven-olov.wallenstein@sh.se

08 - 608 45 28
Rum: PD 216
 

Sven-Olov Wallenstein, born 1960
Lecturer in philosophy and aesthetics at the Department of Culture and Communication

I have studied mostly at Stockholm University, where from 1990 to 1994 I was a member of the research project "Phenomenology and Critique of Modernity." Since then I have taught at many schools, including the School of Film and Photography and the Valand School of Fine Arts at Gothenburg University, and at the University College of Arts and Crafts and the School of Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Since 1999 I have been part of the faculty at the University College of Södertörn.

My main interest has been philosophical aesthetics, in particular relating to modern visual art and architecture. In most of my work I have attempted to combine analyses of artworks, and the exploration of problems in the history of art and architecture, with a reassessment of the conceptuality of philosophy of art that draws on the tradition leading from German Idealism to the modern phenomenologies of Husserl and Heidegger, the Critical Theory of Adorno and Benjamin, and theories of power and subjectivity in Foucault and Deleuze.

At present I am engaged in three research projects: "Technology, Nihilism, Lifeworld" (web site under construction), "Media and the Centralization of Power" (www.sh.se/mkv), both at the Department of Culture and Communication at Södertörn, and "Architecture and Consumption in Sweden, 1930-1970," at the Museum of Architecture in Stockholm (www.architectureandconsumption.com). Previously I have been engaged in various projects at the Academy for Practice Based Research in Architecture and Design (www.akad.se), and in "For An Architecture of Exploration" at Chalmers Institute of Technology, Gothenburg (http://www.arch.chalmers.se/tema/modern-arkitektur/utforskande/).

My work on contemporary art and architecture has also been decisive for the different magazines I have been involved in: Kris (1989-1994) and Material (1991-1999). Since 2001 I have been the editor-in-chief of Site (www.sitemagazine.net), and a co-editor of the book series Site Editions (http://editions.sitemagazine.net/) as well as a founding member of the Swedish Hegel Society (www.hegel.se).

I have published numerous articles and essays (for a selection going back to 2003, click here), and several books and anthologies. I have also worked for many years as a translator.

Books

Heideggers väg (Thales, 1999), together with Daniel Birnbaum; Bildstrider: Föreläsningar om estetisk teori (Alfabeta/Anamma, 2001); Den sista bilden: Det moderna måleriets kriser och förvandlingar (Eriksson & Ronnefalk, 2002); Den moderna arkitekturens filosofier (Alfabeta, 2004); Essays, Lectures (Axl Books, 2007).
In the spring of 2008 I will publish an introduction to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel och Andens Fenomenologi (Axl Books), together with Brian Manning Delaney, and two small books on modern architecture, Biopolitics and the Emergence of Modern Architecture (Buell Center/Princeton Architectural Press) and The Silences of Mies (Axl Books).

Anthologies

Tankens arkipelag: Moderna Kantläsningar (Symposion, 1992), ed. together with Erik van der Heeg; Arkitekturteorier (Raster, 1999); Minimalism och postminimalism (Raster, 2005); AKAD 01: Beginnings / Begynnelser (Axl Books, 2005), ed. together med Katja Grillner och Per Glembrandt, Konceptkonst (Raster, 2006).
Anthologies to be published in 2008 include: Material: Deleuze och mångfaldens veck (Axl Books), ed. together with Helena Mattsson; Thinking Worlds: The Moscow Conference on Art, Philosophy and Politics (Sternberg Press), ed. together with Joseph Backstein and Daniel Birnbaum; Koreografier (Raster), ed. together with Cristina Caprioli.

 

Translations

Johann J Winckelmann, Tankar om imitationen av de grekiska verken i måleriet och skulpturen (Daidalos, 2007); G W F Hegel, Inledning till estetiken (Göteborg: Daidalos, 2005); Martin Heidegger, Konstverkets ursprung (Daidalos, 2005); Giorgio Agamben, Undantagstillståndet (Site Editions, 2005); Gilles Deleuze, Vecket: Leibniz och barocken (Glänta Produktion, 2004); Immanuel Kant, Kritik av omdömeskraften (Thales, 2003); Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Nomadologin (Raster, 1998); Martin Heidegger, Till tänkandets sak (Thales, 1998), with Daniel Birnbaum; Martin Heidegger, Metafysik som varahistoria (Thales, 1998), with Daniel Birnbaum; Martin Heidegger, Identitet och differens (Thales, 1996), with Daniel Birnbaum; Martin Heidegger, Brev om humanismen (Thales, 1996), with Daniel Birnbaum; Gottlob Frege, Skrifter i urval (Thales, 1996), with Daniel Birnbaum; Edmund Husserl, Cartesianska meditationer (Daidalos, 1992), with Daniel Birnbaum; Jacques Derrida, Rösten och fenomenet (Thales, 1992 with Daniel Birnbaum; Emmanuel Levinas, Tiden och den andre (Symposion, 1992), with Erik van der Heeg; Gregorio Kohon (red): Bortom orden. Den oberoende traditionen i brittisk psykoanalys (Natur och Kultur, 1991), with Erik van der Heeg; Gilles Deleuze, Foucault (Symposion, 1990), with Erik van der Heeg.
Translation projects in progress include G W F Hegel, Andens Fenomenologi, with Brian Manning Delaney (to be published in the spring 2008); G E Lessing, Laookon, eller om måleriets och poesins gränser, Michel Foucault, Biopolitikens födelse. Föreläsningar vid Collège de France 1978-79, and Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer I: den suveräna makten och det nakna livet.