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.

In this episode, Agi Haines gives us some suggestions about positive and negative sides of parasites, our researcher Nathalia Dutra Maciel sits down with the designer Juliette Pénélope Pépin, whose artistic practice explores the links between human and non-human perceptions, to talk about reframing our ideas of trauma and healing. Subtly more-than-human musical scenarios will creep into this episode, questioning care and other human practices.

Featuring:

Nathalia Dutra Maciel, artist/researcher whose work investigates the relationships between bodies, the real and the imagined. They bring together themes of speculative fiction, ecology, symbiosis & the uncanny - existing in a space in between.

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.

Juliette Pénélope Pépin, transdisciplinary artist and researcher, currently at the ICA Kyoto. She explores the links between human and non-human perceptions; their phenomenology, mythology and technological frameworks.

Nathalia Dutra Maciel also gives us more information about The Parasitical Child: what unexpected consequences and reactions can your body have if you decide to swallow a more-than-human parasitic baby?

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: Veronika Hanáková, Ludovica BattistaScripting: Veronika Hanáková, Nathalia Dutra MacielProduction, editing: Ludovica Battista, Nathalia Dutra MacielMusic selection: Ludovica BattistaHosting: James Nola, Nathalia Dutra Maciel

TRACKLIST:CNN Predicts a Monster Storm - Laurie Anderson & Kronos QuartetSlyly Child - EartheaterInvertebrate Drawings - David ToopNature & Miracles - David Toop, ElaineIntro - GorillazPractice of Hygiene - Pan DaijingThe Gate - Björk