Mental Geology: Nuclear Threat & the Automation of Catastrophe
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation majorly invested (and intensified) a catastrophic reaction towards the nuclear threat reminiscent of the Cold War parapolitics. Drawing on Felix Guattari’s concept of 'mental ecology' Elena Vogman and Olexii Kuchanskyi propose to investigate 'mental geology' as a complex unconscious formation of the nuclear threat that navigates desire.
Focusing on cases of mediatization of the Chernobyl accident and the recent occupation of Energodar, the presentation reflects in recourse to Guattari’s ecosophical project on the current geopolitical, media, and social conditions. The presentation takes places in the context of the exhibition of Maria Prymachenko, who spent her whole life in Bolotnia – a village located less than 50 kilometres from the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation majorly invested (and intensified) a catastrophic reaction towards the nuclear threat reminiscent of the Cold War parapolitics. This revitalized the Cold War imaginaries impacting decisions of the major geopolitical players. The latter have taken a preemptive semi-neutral position which left aside what this war is mainly operating with: the bodies as psychosomatic singularities and collectives in their intimate mental environments. In this way the war exceeds national borders by mass-mediatizing social affects and toxifying commonly shared existential territories. Drawing on Felix Guattari’s concept of 'mental ecology' Elena Vogman and Olexii Kuchanskyi propose to investigate 'mental geology' as a complex unconscious formation of the nuclear threat that navigates desire. Mental geology allows to address the multilayered temporality of this process. Focusing on cases of mediatization of the Chornobyl accident and the recent occupation of Energodar, the presentation reflects in recourse to Guattari’s ecosophical project on the current geopolitical, media, and social conditions.
Guests: Elena Vogman, Olexii Kuchanskyi
The event takes places in the exhibition space. To participate please obtain a free event pass in the Museum ticket office or via the online M Shop.
In the frame of the program accompanying the exhibtion of Maria Prymachenko, curated by @sdkslonecznik
Olexii Kuchanskyi is an independent film programmer and researcher, whose main interests lie in the intersections of experimental moving images, situated geographies, and critical cultures of nature. Her/his essays and articles have been published in transversal, TransitoryWhite, e-flux Notes, Theory on Demand, figurationen, and others. S/he (co-)curated film programs and shows for Kyiv Biennial, Coalmine — Raum Für Fotografie (Winterthur, Switzerland), e-flux Film, among others.
Elena Vogman is a scholar of comparative literature and media. A Principal Investigator of the research project Madness, Media, Milieus: Reconfiguring the Humanities in Postwar Europe at Bauhaus University Weimar and Visiting Fellow at ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry, she is the author of Sinnliches Denken. Eisensteins exzentrische Methode (Sensuous Thinking. Eisenstein’s Eccentric Method, 2018) and Dance of Values: Sergei Eisenstein’s Capital Project (2019).
