Der Betrug Odysseusʼ und die Wahrhaftigkeit der technischen Medien

Abstract

This text reports on the sound archaeological research expedition to the so-called "Siren Island", presumed to be within the Italian archipelago Li Galli on the Amalfi Coast south of Naples, undertaken by the professorships of Media Theories and Aesthetics and History of Media at Humboldt University. Led by Wolfgang Ernst and Friedrich Kittler, this media-experimental expedition aimed to track down the voices of the Sirens. This put philology on an experimental footing and the expedition created a new dimension of cultural historiography: the description of the medial condition of cultures. This paper shows how the intervention of technical media, as a means of exploring traces deeply rooted in written culture, can serve as a testimony to previously undetectable narratives and as a means of gaining new knowledge.