Medealaboratory
Mappings and survivals of the myth of Medea in contemporary times.
Towards a redefinition of the relationship between Nature, Geology and Culture.

Stefania Strouza
PhD Candidate, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly
Supervisor: Yorgos Tzirtzilakis

The research proposes the aesthetic and cultural inquiry into the current geological epoch through the archetypical myth of Medea. More specifically, the dissertation inserts the myth into a novel conceptual framework that attributes to the model of Medea an intrinsically geological essence. The central research hypothesis concerns the extent to which this particular myth embodies a chtonic and “pre-cultural” model of thought and an original interpretive position capable of undermining human primacy. Could the conflicting and post-human element of Medea function in contrast to the technocratic and anthropocentric approach that the term Anthropocene represents? These questions are addressed through the philosophy of art as this is defined by its recent posthuman turn and the mediating role that non-human entities play in the production of knowledge (non-human agency). This shift to matter is in dialogue with the ethico-aesthetic paradigm of Guattari and Deleuze (1988) and the environmental-feminist approach of Haraway (2016) and Barad (2007).

Methodologically the research is structured as an interdisciplinary, dialogic working hypothesis where the philosophy of art is related to anthropology of science (Latour, 2012), cultural studies (Serres, 1995) as well as to the more recent theories of new materialism (Morton 2013, de Landa 2006) and object-oriented ontology (Grosz, 2008). Finally, the study introduces methods derived from artistic practice in order to define anew a dialectical relationship between matter and meanings.

As far as the interpretive level of the study is concerned, the dissertation examines the genealogy of manifestations of the chthonic element of Medea in the text of Euripides and in later works of antiquity. Medieval representations of the myth inform the research in relation to the magical forces of Nature. The dissertation will conclude with two central examples in order to focus on the concept of the abominable: the cinematic interpretation of the myth by Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1969 and the theatrical one by Heiner Müller in 1982.

In a dialectical relation to the above, the notion of the travelogue is considered here a complementary research approach. Field research will contribute to the documentation of the spatial, anthropological, folkloric and environmental characteristics of the locations that constitute the axis of Medea’s journey.

Conclusively the main objective of the research is the formulation of a new critical and aesthetic theory that aspires to overcome the schism between Nature and Culture that characterizes the current geological and cultural period. The model of Medea focuses on the notion of the chthonic. At the same time, it gives prominence to the endogenous conflicting element that governs the natural environment, thus highlighting this element both as an aesthetic model as well as critical tool against the instrumentalization of nature.