Welcome to “HORROR!”, a podcast by the researchers of the charity University of the Underground’s Horror Programme. This tuition free programme was led by speculative designer Agi Haines from November 2021 to March 2022, as a critical exploration into illicit societal fears and a dive into horror as a complex tool and genre. In every episode of this series we will explore research topics from our projects, with the help of experts, practitioners, artists, and much more. Our host throughout this podcast series will be Necro, our cheeky demonic guide on a nightly journey full of ghosts, shadows, and inexplicable monsters…but no need to worry, as all our guests, human and non-human, have promised to stay in the studio. Be prepared, though: these encounters might easily transport into your homes some uncanny perspectives on our present. Find the full HORROR! playlist here on soundcloud.

In this episode, Agi Haines gives us some suggestions about cinematic ghosts, Vivian Sobchack, and remixing of video-ruins. Our researcher Veronika Hanáková sits down with the film researcher Catherine Russell, whose work focuses on archive, found footage, and Walter Benjamin, to talk about the archival apocalypse, building on ruins, and cutting into films. Our host Necro is joined for an exclusive interview by Ectoplasmatic spiritus. As you will notice, these spectral conversations are matched by some quite ghostly tracks.

Featuring:

Veronika Hanáková, in the process of becoming film/visual theoretician, and part of post-planetary universal design’s program at the New Centre. She is a seeker and collector of forgotten artifacts of visual culture.

Agi Haines, speculative designer. Her work is focused on the design of the human body as a malleable object through which she explores how far we can push our living flesh while still being accepted by society.

Catherine Russell, film researcher focusing on archives, Japanese cinematography and Hollywood cinema. 

Veronika Hanáková as Ectoplasmatic spiritus, or “ghost”, is an invisible entity that is trying to find its lost historical links.

James Nola as Necromantique or Necro, our demonic host who pays homage to 80s cult horror, that will get your bones giggling.

Thank you for listening. We hope that this series will contribute to inspire, to communicate powerful messages, to expose enduring dynamics of the contemporary world and to challenge our understanding of its structures and taboos. If we didn’t scare you enough, and you want to know more about our projects, join us for more episodes or visit https://universityoftheunderground.org!

Coordination, proof-listening, scripting: Veronika Hanáková, Ludovica Battista

Production, editing, music selection: Ludovica Battista, Veronika Hanáková

Hosting: James Nola, Veronika Hanáková

TRACKLIST

CNN Predicts a Monster Storm – Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet

Mr. Ghost Goes to Town – The Five Jones Boys

Intro – Gorillaz

The Ghost Has No Home – Cocteau Twins, Harold Budd

Ghosts IV-34 – Nine Inch Nails (famously sampled and revived by Lil Nas X for his record hit “Old Town Road”)