Hauntology is a loosely defined category of music, art, and aesthetic theory that explores the concept of "lost futures" and the persistence of cultural memory. It developed in the 2000s primarily among British electronic musicians and cultural critics like Mark Fisher and Simon Reynolds.[1] The aesthetic essence of Hauntology lies in its distinct focus on specific post-war British cultural artifacts from the 1970s, which are used to evoke a sense of eerie, melancholic nostalgia for a utopian future that never arrived, replaced instead by perceived contemporary cultural and economic stagnation.
Concept[]
The term "hauntology" was first coined by French philosopher Jacques Derrida on his 1993 book The Spectre of Marx, describing how the titular political theorist and his revolutionary ideals keep influencing (or haunting) Western societies long after his death. In its most popular form, however, the concept of hauntology revolves around the artistic evocation and recollection of past cultural hallmarks and technology, such as old TV shows, tape recordings and analog media in general.
The modern study of hauntology as both an aesthetic and a subject of cultural theory began with the appearance of an underground British electronic music trend, often associated with the Ghost Box label and artists such as Burial and The Caretaker; while the former aroused the attention of notorious music journalists Mark Fisher and Simon Reynolds, the latter quickly rose to Internet fame during the later 2010's thanks to his experimental albums An Empty Bliss Beyond This World and Everywhere At the End Of Time, both of which exploring memory and dementia through sampling and editing of pre-WWII ballroom music.
In parallel, musicians such as Ariel Pink and James Ferraro took inspiration from 70's and 80's electronic music to kickstart genres such as lo-fi and hypnagogic pop, paving the way for the Vaporwave movement to arise in the 2010's.
Several elements of hauntology as a musical style were presaged by Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada. Their music being heavily based on analog synthesizers, tapeloops and samples from old documentaries from the National Filmboard of Canada (hence their bandname).
While hauntology isn't bound to a specific time period, it is mostly used to define works based upon relatively recent cultural artifacts, usually only going as far back as the early 20th century. Further academic scrutiny of the hauntological phenomenon has also been undertaken by the above-mentioned theorists, seeing its popularity as symptomatic of a deep and generalized dissatisfaction with modernity's lack of visionarism - in this sense, past cultural forms evoke a lost utopianism for futuristic, post-welfare societies that have since been superseded by neoliberalism's enforced idea of a "terminal time" from which no alternative economical or social systems seem possible or feasible.
Visuals[]
The visual canon of Hauntology is characterized by the unsettling nostalgia of institutional, often low-budget 1970s media, reflecting the idea of memory decay. The aesthetic often features Brutalist architecture; large, concrete, futuristic buildings once conceived as beacons of social planning but now perceived as monolithic and decaying. The visual style relies heavily on the look of old Public Information Films (PIFs) and children's educational programs, characterized by muted institutional color palettes (dull greens, yellows), grainy film, and unsettlingly ambiguous graphics. Furthermore, visuals deliberately show the artifacts of obsolete media, such as VHS tracking lines and the faded, discolored look of old print matter. The satirical typography and iconography of the Scarfolk Council project visually embody this sense of a "dark alternate timeline" in 1970s Britain.
Music[]
The music acts as a metaphor for the degradation of cultural memory and is dominated by specific analog artifacts such as vinyl crackle, tape hiss, and warped, repeating loops. The material is heavily built from sampling 1970s British cultural sources, particularly library music (generic background music for film/TV), film and TV soundtracks, and experimental electronic pieces from institutions like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Key musical figures include The Caretaker (Leyland Kirby), known for manipulating pre-WWII ballroom music until it degrades into ambient noise in projects like Everywhere at the End of Time, and artists on the Ghost Box Records label, who specialized in creating original electronic music that sounded precisely like corrupted, abandoned recordings of 1970s educational media.
Media[]
Hauntology1.jpg Writer and designer Richard Littler published a blog about a fictional English town called Scarfolk. Parody public information leaflets, posters, adverts and children's books evoke the false memory of a dark alternate timeline of 1970's Britain. The recognisable format is subverted to include distressing or violent messages and imagery. The blog eventually led to two books published in 2014 and 2019. Littler considers his work part of Hauntology.
In 2018 the UK government mistakenly included a Scarfolk poster in an issue of their in-house magazine regarding the history of government communications. The poster read, "If you suspect your child has RABIES don't hesitate to SHOOT."
Resources[]
Guides[]
- Hauntology (Wikipedia)
- RYM Ultimate Box Set > Hauntology
Videos[]
Other[]
- r/Hauntology
- r/MarkFisher
- Hauntology - Spectres of a Forgotten Future (Spotify Playlist)
- The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ "Hauntology" on en.wikipedia.org
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