Dear all, Swedish, Intermedial, international friends and colleagues to Ola.
This is a terrible message to write. I must inform you that our friend and colleague Ola Ståhl from Design passed away Tuesday February 3rd. I have not been informed about the cause of death.
I met Ola about a decade ago at a weird research speeddating event and we quickly found out that we clicked: we had common interests in art, theory, experimental literature and, slightly later, the ecological crisis and the idea of the “anthropocene". Among other things. We liked to hang out in Malmö, to have a beer or to check out an exhibition.
Our collaboration grew tighter over the years: with other colleagues we developed and co-taught the Climate Emergency Studies MA-course and BA-course, we taught classes at Design, we were part of exciting EUniwell-collaborations and shared long train rides to Kassel, Köln, Venice, Florence. For me it was an intellectual adventure. We had a great time and I learned a lot from Ola.
Charming, lively, engaged Ola was loved by students, and I think teaching was what he enjoyed most in academia - apart from sketching future projects and events perhaps.
A few years ago he became part of the IMS where he was involved in the Artist in Residence program and he lead the IMS: Green group, first with Niklas, then with me.
I know many of you have had conversations with Ola, met him at seminars and events, perhaps taken part of his knowledge on art, Documenta, Deleuze or Guattari, Krautrock or something else. Ola was a great addition to IMS, and we will miss him. I have lost an inspiration and a friend and a creator of new exciting milieus and educations; engaged in things that matter.
If some of you need to talk I am of course available - just send a mail or call me. On February 24 11.00 there will be a memorial event at Lnu in Växjö - more information via Medarbetare soon.
Let us take a moment to remember the wonderful smile and the charm and intelligence of kind Ola. I hope he will rest in peace.
Jørgen
Sent from Outlook for Mac
Dear all,
this is just a (late!!) reminder about today’s zoom-presentation that has clear environmental correlations! - info here:
/////
Welcome to next week’s IMS seminar with Asun López-Varela, titled “Intermedial Semiosis and the Agency of Attention: “Serious Noticing” in the Eco-Poetry of Kathleen Jamie”. The seminar will take place on Wednesday the 4th of February, 10.15-12.00, in room Dacke and on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/61066906240?pwd=RjgAgFEaHu7bPTOSzC7nyK3nYDXayL.1
Abstract
Contemporary ecopoetry has increasingly challenged anthropocentric conceptions of perception, creativity, and agency by foregrounding the relational entanglement of language, matter, and environment. Rather than treating poetic expression as the projection of a sovereign human consciousness onto a passive landscape, recent work within intermedial and semiotic theory invites us to understand poetic form as emerging from dynamic exchanges among heterogeneous material supports—bodily perception, inscriptional practices, environmental processes, and cultural memory. This article proposes a theoretical account of Kathleen Jamie’s eco-poetry through the lens of Charles S. Peirce’s semiotics and the intermedial aesthetics, arguing that poetic “noticing” functions as a distributed semiotic practice rather than a purely subjective act of observation.
Drawing on Peirce’s triadic model of the sign and his phenomenological categories of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness, the study conceptualises Jamie’s poetics as a field in which sensation, encounter, and habit converge to produce meaning across human and more-than-human agencies. Intermediality is thus understood not merely as the combination of verbal and visual forms, but as a process of transduction in which wind, stone, tide, birdcall, and inscription co-participate in signification. Language becomes one medium among others within a broader ecological semiosis.
Central to this account is Jamie’s practice of “serious noticing,” which the article interprets as an ethical and aesthetic mode of attention that redistributes agency away from the observing subject toward the relational event itself. Noticing operates as a form of interpretant activity: it mediates between material presence and symbolic articulation, allowing the poem to emerge as the trace of an encounter rather than an imposition of mastery. Through close readings of selected poems, the paper demonstrates how Jamie’s work enacts a non-anthropocentric poetics in which perception becomes participatory, writing becomes a site of intermedial translation, and the environment asserts its own semiotic force.
By situating Jamie’s eco-poetry within a Peircean and intermedial framework, the article ultimately advances a model of literary agency grounded in attentiveness, reciprocity, and material co-production, proposing “noticing” as both a methodological principle and an ecological ethics of form.
Bio:
Asun López-Varela is Assoc. Prof. at Facultad Filología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid<https://www.ucm.es/>. She holds a PhD Anglo-American Culture and Literary Studies (2002), a Diploma of Advanced PhD Studies in Spanish Literature from UNED (2004), and a Master in Education Management from the Open University London (2000). Her research interests are Comparative Literature, Science & Literature, Cultural Studies, Cognitive and Intermedial Semiotics and Green Humanities and Sustainability. <https://www.ucm.es/siim/eurasia-foundation-complutense-2022-lectures-webina…>
Something for environmental/affect group?
From: enscan-request(a)uia.no <enscan-request(a)uia.no> On Behalf Of Stefka Georgieva Eriksen
Sent: den 28 januari 2026 13:11
To: enscan(a)uia.no
Subject: [enscan] CfP: Eco-emotions on Earth, 2.-4. September, Oslo
Dear colleagues,
The Eco-emotions research initiative is happy to share the Call for Papers for our next annual conference, Eco-emotions on Earth<https://www.hf.uio.no/iln/english/research/projects/eco-emotions/annual-con…>, to take place on September, 2nd-4th, 2026, in Oslo.
Throughout the history of humanity, earth, with all its lifeforms, has had a crucial significance and impact on human existence, from providing essential resources, to symbolizing Mother Earth and home, or bringing forth earthquakes, draughts and landslides, and being a main motivation for violent conflicts and occupations. Whether hunter-gatherers' communities, the pioneers of the agricultural revolution, or inhabitants of urban and industrial centers, human cultures have always relied on stable relationships to earth and its resources and have strived to tame changes in these through different means, including trade, religion, or technology. With its rural and wild, cultivated and gardened forms, earth has enticed and inspired, as well as threatened and harmed, which has also led humanity to search for new lands, or to imagine alternative earths and lifeforms.
This conference invites scholars to explore how literature, on its own or in comparison to other humanities disciplines, has captured these shifting affective responses to earth and all its lifeforms in any literary genres, fiction and non-fiction, from any historical and geocultural areas, such as classical, medieval and modern literatures, Nordic and global. We welcome papers on topics including but not limited to:
* the role of earth and landscapes in representing and shaping emotional responses to climate change
* the aesthetical and ethical dimensions of earth
* earth as metaphor for affective responses to places and spaces
* agency of earth and all its lifeforms
* alternative/imaginary earths and lifeforms
Our keynote speakers this year are:
* Emily Lethbridge, Associate Professor at Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
* David Farrier, Professor at School of Literature, Languages and Cultures, Personal Chair of Literature and Environment, The University of Edinburgh
* Serenella Iovino, James Gordon Hanes Distinguished Professor in Humanities, Department of Romance Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
If you are interested in contributing to the conference with a 20-min paper, send a title, a brief abstract of 200 words, and a short bio to eco-emotions(a)iln.uio.no<mailto:eco-emotions@iln.uio.no> by March 15th, 2026. For more information, see the full Call for Papers here.<https://www.hf.uio.no/iln/forskning/prosjekter/affektiv-respons-pa-miljoend…>
Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, and feel free to share the CfP widely with other colleagues and students who may be interested.
With all best regards,
Stefka, on behalf of the organizing committee
Stefka G. Eriksen<https://www.hf.uio.no/iln/english/people/aca/old-norse-and-celtic-philology…>
Associate Professor, Old Norse Studies/Medieval Studies
Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies
University of Oslo
PB 1102 Blindern
0317 Oslo
PI of research initiative Eco-Emotions<https://www.hf.uio.no/iln/english/research/projects/eco-emotions/> (2024-2028)
Head of Research ILN - Institutt for lingvistiske og nordiske studier<https://www.hf.uio.no/iln/english/research/projects/eco-emotions/events/mon…> (2025-2026)
Dear all,
I hope this e-mail finds you well and rested after the holidays. Soon the new semester begins, and we have much to look forward to, questions that need to be formulated and problems to be solved. This e-mail is just to give you all a little heads-up on what we have in the pipeline.
A new name and a new direction: IMS Green becomes IMS Environment
Things are moving in the world and in academia — and in our research interests. This year we will pursue a partially new line of inquiry that theoretically can be understood as an attempt to integrate the semiotic Växjö school of intermediality with the post-phenomenological and/or Heideggerian strand of media history. This attempt is motivated by an interest in how our environments are shaped by media and how our environments shape our forms of life. This interest does not exclude, we would argue, analyses of texts, films, and other media products that represent environmental issues. On the contrary, they are part and parcel of the processes that shape our environments.
When we meet for the IMS colloquium in Malmö in January, we would like to open the discussion once again on this new direction. Attached you find a revised version of the text that me and Jørgen shared with you when we met before christmas. It gives a general idea of what we want to do with this cluster and will serve as a presentation of the cluster on the LNU website.
[https://res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft/assets/fluentui-resources/1.1.0/app-min/assets/item-types/24/docx.png]IMS Environment förslag.docx<https://linnaeus-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/ereraa_lnu_se/IQDW_oPzROI…>
The cluster meetings
This semester, our cluster will share the monthly Wednesday slots with the newly formed IMS Affect cluster. Our cluster has the last February 25 and April 29.
February 25: Critique and environmental media
The theme of the first meeting is critique and environmental media. By the latter we mean media that operate in relative independence of human consciousness but nevertheless have an impact on the world that we experience in a particular way: they produce and order the data of experience. In the meeting we will discuss Mark Hansen's "The Critique of Data, or Towards a Phenomenotechnics of Algorithmic Culture". In this text, Hansen argues that environmental media poses a challenge to established critical practices. They are calibrated for a situation in which norms, categories and habits structure our experience. Of course, this situation has not disappeared, but it has become more complex with the emergence of environmental media. Today it is not only our habits of thought that determine what is sayable and visible. When we start talking and experiencing, we are talking about and experiencing data that have already been mediated by algorithms. The question that Hansen poses is how to calibrate our critical practices for such a situation? What we want to do in this meeting is to discuss Hansen's response. Is it a direction that we can follow? Or do we need something else?
We are very grateful that our expert in media ecology Per Israelsson will lead the seminar and introduce the text.
The text is attached.
[https://res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft/assets/fluentui-resources/1.1.0/app-min/assets/item-types/24/pdf.png]hansen_critique_of_data.pdf<https://linnaeus-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/ereraa_lnu_se/IQBJHlSXsu6…>
April 29: Yet to be decided
Workshop: The semiotic modalities reconsidered
The December workshop had to be postponed. As soon as we have a new date, we will share it with you.
Guest lecture: Claudio Paolucci (University of Bologna)
We will host a visit to Linnaeus University by Claudio Paolucci, professor in Philosophy and Theory of Languages at the University of Bologna. The date for his visit has not been set yet, most likely late April or early May.
Best wishes,
Erik and Jørgen
Dear all,
during the online intermedial meetings yesterday and today I was approached by Anna-Lena Eick from Mainz who runs a blog dealing with aspects of the Anthropocene - if you want to contribute to the blog either with smaller or larger pieces, please let Anna-Lena know! Her email is aeick(a)uni-mainz.de
She sends this link to the blog project "Writing the Anthropocene”:
https://anthrowrite.hypotheses.org/495https://anthrowrite.hypotheses.org/about ///////
All the best,
Jørgen
Sent from Outlook for Mac
Dear all,
IMS: Green is one of the “oldest” IMS-clusters, and it is time to discuss, think through and possibly reformulate the tasks and underlying principles of our group.
Next week, Erik and I will share one or two very short proposals for us to discuss and elaborate on to see if we can find new ways to move IMS Green into productive and exciting paths - other Green-members will surely have ideas, too!
Looking forward to seeing you next week - we meet in Dacke 10.15-12 or in Zoom via https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/8060837779<https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/8060837779#success>
Meeting ID: 806 083 7779
Passcode: 2547
Best wishes, Jørgen and Erik (Ola is on sick leave)
On Wednesday 26
Sent from Outlook for Mac
Dear all,
next week Marco Maggi (Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano) joins us on zoom to give a presentation. I hope to see many of you there in Dacke!
Captioned landscapes: from iconology to the ecomedial turn
Marco Maggi
Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
marco.maggi(a)usi.ch
Abstract:
The presence of writing in natural environments is perhaps as ancient as literature itself. Traditionally, these “captioned landscapes” have been studied from an iconological or reception-aesthetic perspective; in all cases, the approach adopted is “correlationalist”, in the sense indicated by Richard Grusin of considering nature as an object opposed to the human subject.
Examining “captioned landscapes” in light of the latest advances in the field of intermedial ecocriticism allows us to overcome this one-sidedness, enabling us to grasp the intertwining of human and non-human mediality that characterises them.
Bio:
Marco Maggi is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Literary Theory and Director of the Master's programme in Italian Language, Literature and Civilisation at the Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland.
His studies focus on the intermedial relations of literature, particularly with the visual, from a theoretical, historical and critical perspective. His most recent publication is the proceedings of the national conference of the Swiss Association of General and Comparative Literature entitled On the Edge of the Visible: Comparative Literature and Visuality.
He is currently engaged in a project on the Italian genealogies of inter-arts studies funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (20th Century Italian Studies of Literature and Arts). Another recent aspect of his work concerns intermedial ecocriticism; a multi-author work in two volumes entitled Captioned Landscapes: Intermedial Combinations Beyond the Human, edited by him, is due to be
We meet in Dacke 10.15-12 or in Zoom on the link below:
https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/8060837779
Meeting ID: 806 083 7779
Passcode: 2547
Best wishes,
Erik
Dear All, not sure whether we need to confirm our participation by replying but if that’s the case, here’s my reply. Many thanks for sorting this out.
Have a great day, everyone. All best / Ola
-------------/------------------------------
Ola Ståhl (PhD)
Professor of Design with a focus on Creative Critical Practice
The Department of Design
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Linnaeus University
https://lnu.se/en/staff/ola.stahl/
Coordinator IMS Green: Mediations of Climate and Ecological Emergency (IMS Green: MEDEM)
https://lnu.se/en/research/searchresearch/mediations-of-climate-and-ecologi…
Contact:
ola.stahl(a)lnu.se<mailto:ola.stahl@lnu.se>
+ (0) 470 70 80 66
