THE MONSTER INSIDE ME: 11 Dialogues about drastic aesthetics, the fictional monster, and boredom in the midst of the apocalypse

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work explores the human demand for fictional monsters and the narrative of the zombie apocalypse. When and why do monsters appear and what happens if they take over? Which psychological, social, and cultural needs do these scenarios satisfy? To answer these questions, Antonia Prochaska follows a communicative approach, using conversations as an artistic and knowledge-producing practice. Bringing together her interlocutors' understanding of the monstrous, she drafts a picture of the monster within. The zombie apocalypse is like a laboratory situation that gives an idea of where the human appears in the monstrous and the monstrous in the human.