[Online] Real or Replica: The Essence of Nature and Its Relevance for Our Lives

While contemporary discussions revolve around the imperative of preserving nature, sometimes at the expense of our personal freedoms, the emergence of synthetic nature introduces a blurred boundary between what is natural and what is artificial. This phenomenon invites us to contemplate the potential consequences of immersing ourselves in flawless replicas of the natural world, ranging from artificial turf becoming increasingly commonplace to the advent of holographic displays of nature. Beyond the technical obstacles associated with such a scenario, is there any compelling reason why it would matter for our human lives whether nature is real rather than a mere copy? During her talk, Maria will address this question by examining the distinction between real and manmade nature, and will explore some of the ways in which the former may hold significance for human existence.

This talk is part of our collaborative series with the Bombay Institute for Critical Analysis & Research (BICAR). BICAR has dedicated the proceeds from this lecture to supporting Editions JOJO’s mission of fostering artistic endeavours in the region by means of a free photobook library in Mumbai.

About Maria Balaska:

Dr Maria Balaska is an academic philosopher and psychotherapist. She is currently a research fellow at the philosophy department of Åbo Akademi University, Finland. The lecture will be followed by a discussion with artist Karan Shrestha, hosted by Rohit Goel.

About Karan Shrestha:

Karan Shrestha’s practice incorporates drawings, sculpture, photography, text, film, and video that speak to Nepal's recent history's complex, entangled relations. Shrestha presents projects that are a synthesis of an archive of the terrain, political histories, transient memories, and a speculative world that suspends reality, probing all the while at the fraught rhetoric of progress that is constantly pitted as the only way forward.

(The topic of Balaska's talk forms part of her broader research project on nature that is funded by the Kone Foundation, Finland)

About Rohit Goel:

Rohit Goel is Director/Professor of the Bombay Institute for Critical Analysis and Research (BICAR). He is the editor of Future Perfect: Catastrophe and Redemption in the Contemporary (Kaph 2023) and the co-editor of Lacan contra Foucault: Subjectivity, Sex, Politics(Bloomsbury 2019). Rohit has taught courses in critical theory, historiography, and politics at the University of Chicago, Sciences Po Paris, the American University of Beirut, and Jnanapravaha Mumbai.

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