Lea Porsager – Repulsive Enchantment

REPULSIVE ENCHANTMENT UNVEILS:
PHILOSOPHY & ENERGY, a talk by MICHAEL MARDER,
followed by AKAAL, a chant by HUGRÚN FJÓLA HAFSTEINSDÓTTIR

Please enjoy these playfully animated background emissions. It’s as if the magnetic pull that is REPULSIVE ENCHANTMENT urges us to meditate on the vast concept of energy — the unseen force that moves within, between and beyond all things. The work itself seems to invite us to embrace Michael Marder’s idea of “energetic ecology,” which proposes a shift in our understanding of energy. I am grateful for his thought-provoking talk in Aarhus, an introduction to the furious and pervading presence of energy. To Marder, energy is dreamlike — a state of suspension — a transformative, ecstatic condition. Energy needs to be practiced in order to be understood. Simply put, REPULSIVE ENCHANTMENT is privileged to serve as a host for Michael Marder’s compelling call to delve deeper into the energetic interplay between matter and matters. If you’re not familiar with Marder, our Q & A might be a good place to start. The talk was held next to the huge magnets of REPULSIVE ENCHANTMENT at the Open Architecture Day at Aarhus School of Architecture 2022, followed by an unbounded chant by HUGRÚN FJÓLA HAFSTEINSDÓTTIR.

Heartfelt thanks to Marder for agreeing to share his thoughts in Aarhus. Thanks to beautiful bountiful blissful friends: Hugrún Fjóla Hafsteindótti (sound vibrator), the two sound-enchanters Jesper Bagger Hviid (on-site and film sound) and Bjarke Rasmussen (magnetic sound record). The raw sound record has been encapsulated in a zero-gauss chamber residing in Aarhus School of Architecture’s library. Thanks to wonderful Sonja Rendtorff (3-D-animator) and mindblowing intra-active wordplayer Synnøve B. Brøgger.

Enjoy!

MICHAEL MARDER’s talk PHILOSOPHY & ENERGY.
Michael Marder has been a huge inspirational source for me. He is Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, Spain. I was briefly introduced to Marder in Lisbon in 2019, where Marder gave an inspiring talk to Malmö Art Academy’s PhD program, which I was part of. Afterwards, I bought Marder’s book Energy Dreams — Of Actuality (2017). I enjoyed the density and the overwhelming depths of Michael’s thought-forms and writing, and the book had a huge impact on me. Marder’s work spans the fields of environmental philosophy and ecological thought, political theory and phenomenology. His books include Green Mass: The Ecological Theology of St. Hildegard of Bingen (2021), Hegel’s Energy: A Reading of The Phenomenology of Spirit (2021), Pyropolitics in the World Ablaze (2021), and Through Vegetal Being: Two Philosophical Perspectives with Luce Irigaray (2016).

Question I

Question II

Question III

Question IV

Question V

Question VI

AKAAL, a chant by HUGRÚN FJÓLA HAFSTEINSDÓTTIR