Beginn des PhD-Programms: 2024
Betreuung / Supervision:
Julia Grillmayr
Abstract
“Maybe the border between the heater and the heated could become permeable and diffuse”.1
My project addresses heat as a motif of transformation in and through contemporary art and Feminist New Materialist theory. It emphasises heat exchange between humans and/or other-than-human agents. The aim is to develop emancipatory understandings of planetary interdependence by analysing and creating artistic narratives that work with the conceptual figure of heat. I understand heat exchange as a “trans-corporeal”2 phenomenon and address it for its life-sustaining, creative and dangerous impacts. The dissertation consists of research in cultural studies and artistic practice: The theoretical inquiry treats contemporary artworks on heat and analyses through an ecofeminist, energy-critical lens. The artistic component forms a narrative frame around these findings. It consists of a fictional work on a group of protagonists who are confronted with the workings of heat as they find and reinvigorate an abandoned glassblowing studio.
Short Bio
Marlene Lahmer (*1996, AT) is a feminist interdisciplinary artist and researcher. Her practice combines writing, installation, sculpture and performance with a particular focus on the material glass. With these tools she creates multi-media works centered around issues of gender, environmental justice, relationships and representation.
Marlene studied TransArts (University of Applied Art Vienna), English and American Studies (University of Vienna), and Glass Art (Estonian Academy of Arts). She is a member of the art-activist collective Kollektiv Elsa Plainacher and a co-editor of the art criticsm platform Resonanzen.store. She has published literary texts and critical essays, given lectures, and exhibited artwork in Austria and internationally.
1Tulin, Kirill. 2018. “61. Välkloeng: Külmavõitu“ (61st Flash Lecture: Freezing). Estonian Centre for Architecture: https://youtu.be/-VZah0wVoKg?feature=shared (Accessed 10.01. 2024)
2Alaimo, Stacy. “Trans-corporeal Feminisms and the Ethical Space of Nature.“ Material Feminisms, eds. Stacy Alaimo and Susan Hekman. Indiana University Press, 2008: 238.