"The Horror in Us" videos of lecture series, Dec 2024, Flutgraben Berlin

Over the past few weeks, I have presented a series of lectures specifically targeted to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These lectures tackle subjects that, from my perspective, relate directly to characteristics of the invasion - looking at how women have dealt previously with war, how things have unfolded socially in a post World War 2 context, and how violence and trauma function through the shared cathartic experience.

These lectures drew on key theorists of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s such as Laura Mulvey, Linda Williams, Michel Foucault, Carol Clover, and Giorgio Agamben. These theorists are key for understanding both screen spectatorship and the ideologies surrounding it.

Hollywood cinema - which is the field of reference for the lectures - is not the only source at which we might conceive of these events. But it does offer us some useful signposts for what is happening and what will happen - in the sense that the contingencies of spectatorship act as a mirror for the power dynamic of a broader society. Given the current reliance on the screen as a communication tool through social media, Hollywood history is also a useful portal to other times and places, where we might reflect on our own times using a shared language of filmmaking. 

The examples I chose over the lecture series are each drawn from post-war contexts that had large effects on the cinema coming out of Hollywood: Slasher films (Vietnam War and specifically the involvement of the US), Weepies (World War 2), and Superhuman cinema (US Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan). These invite reflection on the contemporary context, and especially, how the politics of the viewing experience influenced by militarisation affect phenomena like contemporary trends in pornography or online misogyny.

The full lectures are available underneath, together with their corresponding short promo clips. Each lecture lasts approximately 60 minutes, together with a 30-minute Q+A with the live audience.

During the lectures, I was proud to work together with my colleagues from Cultural Workers Studio, who supported me through the process as well as offering me useful feedback, particuarly my colleagues Hanna Liashenko and Anita Kopylenko. As well, I would like to thank Public in Private for offering us their beautiful hidden performance studio in Flutgraben - the perfect location for such clandestine activities.

Week 1/3: "Re-Watching the Final Girl"

Week 2/3: "Post WW2 “Weepies”, trauma recovery, pornography, and Laura Mulvey"

Week 3/3: "Re-historising Online Misogyny: some Superhuman Responses"

Looking forward to developing more of these lectures in 2025!

You can keep in touch with these video presentations on the YouTube channel or over at the public instagram page.

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Note: Current publication is done with the understanding that colleagues and communities from Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kyiv, Lutsk, and Lviv among others in Ukraine are currently under attack in an attempt to erase Ukrainian culture and identity. No artist should be forced to rehearse how to pick up the gun.