Cassandraic Whispers

Application summary

'Cassandraic Whispers' is an incipient research project with intended textual and exhibitory outcomes. Located on a spectrum between eco-horror and Romanticism--genres that can help us articulate alternative ecological subjectivities--the project seeks to generate meditations on culturally produced forms of madness generally ascribed to subaltern subjectivities in moments when they feel compelled to speak their truth. Taking Cassandra—the Trojan prophetess tragically fated by Apollo to not be believed—as its torch bearer, the project will attempt to diagnose the cultural curse that seeks to drown out these apocalyptic knowledges. This catastrophic truth that eventually proves too much to bear, demands closer examination given its tortuous and tortured political journey. The question then arises: how should this doomed ken be channeled? Cassandraic Whispers is a direct response borne out of living in a world that seems to have gone mad, viz., where the logics of what passes for rational behaviour have been pushed to the brink. And when reality defies credulity, truth often appears disguised in madness. Thinking of Cassandra, one wonders what must it feel like to inhabit this inverted reality, to be the only sane voice amidst a maddening pandemonium. Just like eco-horror, confronting us to the weird within our own natures, listening out for Cassandraic whispers might help us rethink the limits of the sane, the probable, and the plausible. As such, it signifies an opportunity to reassess the situation and deploy corrective measures. The utility of this framework is not just limited to diagnosing cultural or political issues but extends well unto the ecological crises of the times. Indeed, Cassandraic whispers are first and foremost the ecotone that our ears have deliberately tuned out. Put otherwise, it signifies a planetary perspective that merits meditating in the interest of better understanding our own truths as well as our position within the planetary holarchy.