Kristoffer Noheden: Surrealism in the Night Side of Nature: Ecology Between Imagination and Activism
Scholars and critics tend to think of surrealism as an urban movement with decidedly urban interests – arcades, flea markets, odd commodities –far removed from nature. However, surrealist art, films, and writings are replete with representations of plants, animals, minerals, and microbes, which often come together to form vivid environments. In my ongoing research, I propose that such depictions are instances of an ecological sensibility in surrealism, which has undergone many changes across the movement’s long history. Revisiting the movement’s foundational influence from Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, I uncover a parallel impetus from romanticism, animal magnetism, and occultism, which allowed the early surrealists to approach the unconscious as more than a hidden dimension of the interior lives of humans. For surrealism, I seek to demonstrate, the unconscious was also a zone of contact with animals and nature, and in this zone emerged a non-coercive ecological insight in the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things. This sensibility is in evidence in a wide range of surrealist imagery and writings both literary and theoretical.
In this talk, I will provide an overview of my book project on surrealism and ecology, starting with the movement’s early years and proceeding to lesser-known latter-day manifestations, such as the lively Surrealist Group of Chicago who joined forces with environmental activist groups in the 1980s.