(Un)Box the Soap Podcast

(Un)Box the Soap Podcast

(Un)Box The Soap is a place where we slip from topic to topic, navigate and invade all the nooks and crannies and (un)box knowledges that are hidden. Here you will find conversations, sounds and voices from different backgrounds and in different forms: interviews, readings, sound pieces and other media. As a part of Soapbox Journal, we take a step further and explore how cultural analysis seeps through our lives and shapes us in ways that are often left unexplored. We are excited to welcome you on this journey! Website: https://www.soapboxjournal.net/ Instagram: @soapboxjournal

Episodes

  1. Apr 18

    Ep. 11: On Movement and Memory

    In this episode, Fern sits down with Aileen Ye, a filmmaker, writer and curator based in The Netherlands. Aileen’s practice explores contemporary subcultures, the body as a site of resistance, and the sociopolitical forces that shape visibility and expression. We discuss the power of movement, from diasporic club culture, to re-connecting with the land, and having dance parties in your bedroom. How does the body hold memory, rhythm and refusal?  Aileen shares how she approaches filmmaking as a method of reframing the archive, challenging visual hierarchies, and experimenting with new visual and sonic languages. Throughout, we explore the importance of community, what it means to centre joy and hope, and how inspiration exists in our everyday worlds. This episode is the first in a new series exploring the themes of our forthcoming seventh issue: Between Bodies and Homes.

    47 min

  2. Feb 26

    Ep. 10: Threads of Resistance

    In this episode of Unbox the Soap, hosts Anna and Shane interview Dr. Zay Dale from the University of Canvas to discuss his ongoing research into the politics of textiles in American slave narratives. Drawing from his article in the ASAP Review, Zay explains how fabrics such as osnaburg, cotton, and wool historically functioned as both tools of dehumanization and as sites of radical resistance. Our conversation traces the complex relationship between material history and Black existence, from the subversive storytelling of Olaudah Equiano and Harriet Jacobs to the practices of contemporary artists like Kara Walker, Kiyan Williams, and Precious Lovell. Foregrounding the ways in which the enslaved used textiles as a mode of resistant world-making, Zay provides insights into the "aesthetic vocabulary" of Black survival and gives some reflections on the ongoing importance of witnessing these historical gestures from the present.

    26 min

  3. Jan 30

    Ep 9: Textile Work and the Politics of Repair

    In this episode, we sit down with Ren Ewart, a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen, to reflect on their 2021 piece for Soapbox Web, “Can you fix this for me? Knotted writing, textiles and language”, and discuss their current research project, “Tracing repair, needlework, mending in and beyond the museum.” Ewart's research attends to the various sites in which textile maintenance occurs to uncover the different types of labor involved in keeping cultural objects intact. Throughout our conversation, they challenge the notion of repair as a simple transition from broken to fixed, instead framing it as an inevitably ongoing ecological process that requires continuous effort and "showing up". We delve into the invisibilized labor of care, drawing on Marxist and ecofeminist critiques to understand repair as a form of reproductive labor that allows systems and objects to function. Finally, we dwell the provisionalities of research: itself an essentially provisional and collabarative process, susceptible to fray and repair.

    55 min

  4. Jan 16

    Ep.8: Uses of Absence: Sex Negativity

    After a short break, Unbox the Soap returns with an episode on absence, featuring Marija Cetinić and Tessel Vaeneboer discussing their contributions to Soap Box Journal’s latest issue On the Uses of Absence (6.0). The conversation explores the concept of sex negativity through feminist theory, psychoanalysis, and aesthetics, from feminist celibacy movements to filmic abstraction in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. Together with our hosts Shane Farragher and Anna Winter, the guests reflect on absence as a productive contradiction shaping politics, form, and contemporary critical thought.

    48 min

  5. 06/13/2025

    Ep. 7: Queer Ecologies

    This instalment of Unbox the Soap has emerged from an rMA tutorial on Queer Ecologies. In those sessions, we explored how queerness, ecology and negativity intersect and interact, sometimes in complimentary and contradictory ways. This episode features Franek Dziduch, Richard-Josephine Weichert and Nia Daskalova, who introduce, discuss and analyse three objects: Zuzanna Ginczanka’s poem “Explanation in the Margins”, p.Wrecks’ feature on Menes the Pharoah's track “Impest”, and Daisy Lafarge’s poem “dog rose duende”. Together, they open portals to reading for "queer ecologies" by addressing these objects in the voices of new materialism, object-oriented ecology, psychoanalysis, decolonial theory, and more. Works mentioned: Araszkiewicz, Agata, and Bożena Keff. “Ginczanka Jako Pole Walki (O Znaczenia).” Krytyka Polityczna, 2023, https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kultura/czytaj-dalej/agata-araszkiewicz-bozena-keff-ginczanka-jako-pole-walki-polskosc-antysemityzm/. Bruce, La Marr Jurelle. How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind: Madness and Black Radical Creativity. Duke University Press, 2021. Bryant, Levi R. The Democracy of Objects. Open Humanitites Press, 2011. Dean, Tim. “Lacan and Queer Theory.” The Cambridge Companion to Lacan, Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 238–52. Edelman, Lee. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Duke University Press, 2004. —. Bad Education: Why Queer Theory Teaches Us Nothing. Duke University Press, 2022. Ginczanka, Zuzanna. Zuzanna Ginczanka. Poezje Zebrane. Edited by Izolda Kiec, Marginesy, 2019. Ginczanka, Zuzanna. On Centaurs & Other Poems. Originally published in 1936. Translated by Alex Breslavsky. World Poetry Books, 2023. Goodman, Steve. Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. MIT Press, 2012. Halberstam, Jack. In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York University Press, 2005. Kiec, Izolda. Ginczanka. Nie Upilnije Mnie Nikt. Marginesy, 2020. Lafarge, Daisy. “dog rose duende.” Life Without Air, Granta Publications Ltd, 2020, pp. 70-71. Morton, Timothy. “Guest Column: Queer Ecology.” PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. 125, no. 2, Mar. 2010, pp. 273–82, https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2010.125.2.273. ---. Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People. Verso Books, 2017. ---. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World. U of Minnesota Press, 2013. ---. Spacecraft. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2021. —. Subscendence. https://youtu.be/vZ99i760djU. Sonic Acts Festival – the Geologic Imagination. ---. “Subscendence.” E-Flux, vol. 85, no. 1, Oct. 2017, pp. 55–63. ---. The Stuff of Life. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023. ---. “Timothy Morton: On Ecotrauma.” The MIT Press Reader, MIT, 5 Dec. 2024, https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/timothy-morton-on-ecotrauma/. Olszewska, Małgorzata. “Zuzanna Ginczanka.” Culture.pl, 2007, culture.pl/en/artist/zuzanna-ginczanka. Accessed 26 May 2025. Ortega, Mariana. Carnalities: The Art of Living in Latinidad. Duke University Press, 2024. Povinelli, Elizabeth A. “The World Is Flat: And Other Super Weird Ideas.” Object-Oriented Feminism, U of Minnesota Press, 2016, pp. 107–21. Seymour, Nicole. Strange Natures : Futurity, Empathy, and the Queer Ecological Imagination. University Of Illinois Press, 2013. Swarbrick, Steven. The Environmental Unconscious. U of Minnesota Press, 2023.

    1h 9m

  6. 06/05/2025

    Ep. 6: Flixbussin 2.0

    The newest episode of (Un)Box the Soap Podcast features five performative readings loosely connected to the theme of flixbus poetry, or, more broadly, exploring the topic of contemporary travel. The works submitted unfold across two episodes. You can listen to the first one here. In the second episode, we invite you to listen to ‘Internationale Bussy’ by Luke Worthy, ‘Munster to Trento, March 4th, 2024’ by Annalisa Volcan, ‘A Bus Ride into the Night’ by Susanna Olmi, ‘We Flixbuse’ by Franek Dziduch, and ‘Who is Driving this Bus’ by Emily Marie Passos Duffy. You can also read along while listening to the episode, as all texts are available on our website.

    31 min

  7. 05/15/2025

    Ep. 5: Flixbussin 1.0

    The newest episode of (Un)Box the Soap Podcast features four performative readings loosely connected to the theme of flixbus poetry, or, more broadly, exploring the topic of contemporary travel. The works submitted unfold across two episodes. In the first episode, we invite you to listen to ‘Familial Landscape’ by Haoran Zhi, ’Flixbus Chronicles’ by Elis Lipinski, and ‘Lake’ by Elia Meregalli. Finally, the episode closes with ‘EUSEXUA & The State of Being on a Flixbus Ride’ by Petra Parčetić in collaboration with producer Thomas Hell. You can also read along while listening to the episode, as all texts are available on our website.

    16 min

  8. 03/05/2025

    Ep. 4: The Wicked Witch of the East(ern Europe): Witches in film

    In this episode of (Un)box the Soap Podcast, we voyage into the obscure territories of the Eastern European folk horror genre. We discuss three films from countries that no longer exist: the Soviet Viy (1967), the Yugoslavian Leptirica (1973), and the Czechoslovak Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970). Continuing our witchy fascinations from the last episode, we explore how feminine representation lies at the core of these films, analyzing how witchcraft and vampirism are used to either punish women for their sexuality or liberate them from patriarchal constraints. We also examine themes of rurality, spirituality, and propaganda, questioning how they shape our reading of these stories. Finally, we tackle the ethics of filmmaking and how to engage with older films that may now seem problematic. So, hop on your broom and join us in these enchanted explorations! Trigger Warning: This episode discusses scenes from the films that depict rape and pedophilia. Call for poems: If you’re interested in contributing to our next episode, focused on poetry/texts created in the surroundings of Flixbuses, email us at soapboxpodcast2024@gmail.com. Films discussed in this episode: Leptirica (1973), dir. Đorđe Kadijević Morgiana (1972), dir. Juraj Herz Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), dir. Jaromil Jireš Viy (1967), dir. Konstantin Yershov, Georgi Kropachyov Other sources: Edgar, Robert, and Wayne Johnson. The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Routledge, 2023. Scovell, Adam. Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange. Liverpool University Press, 2017.  Cinema Infernal - Folk Horror: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18JMJLDAjZ/.

    31 min

  9. 12/23/2024

    Ep. 3: Witches Among Us: Interview with Lara Senske and Fedora Boonaert

    In this episode of (Un)Box the Soap Podcast we will take you on a journey through magic, herbal medicine, tarot cards, and other witchy things! We had the pleasure to talk with Lara Senske (@cosmia.absurd), a professional tarot card reader and a drag performer, and Fedora Boonaert, art historian and designer who specializes in herbs and scents. Witches have been, and still are, everywhere, but for this episode we wanted to look at their practice in Amsterdam - how did they get enchanted by witchcraft? Are they part of a bigger community? What are their areas of interest and expertise? And how does a witch navigate the modern world?  Fedora will discuss her research on herbal medicine, witch hunts, women's knowledge, institutions, modern healthcare, while Lara will share her insight into the history of tarot cards, their designs, and how they circulate within modern cultures. We invite you to get immersed in this fascinating conversation, and delve deeper into the world of witches and magic! You can find our guests on Instagram: Lara Senske: @cosmia.absurd Fedora Boonaert: @fedorabonaert  And read Fedora’s amazing article which we discuss in the episode: https://thecouch.hethem.nl/are-tiktok-healers-contemporary-quacks-or-re-risen-witches/.

    58 min

  10. 09/24/2024

    Ep. 2: Cultural manifestations of the swamp

    In our second episode of (Un)box the Soap Podcast, we continue our journey through the swamps and examine how this porous ecosystem manifests in culture.  Whether it's through watching the film La Ciénaga, listening to swamp-pop, walking through the streets of London, or examining the history of the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons, we explore the swamp’s potentiality of creating new meanings, seeing ordinary things anew, and reclaiming one’s independence. Why do we associate swamps with something negative and why is it Shrek that helps us free ourselves from these presuppositions?  Join us in our boggy ruminations and let’s submerge in the swampy realms! Works we referenced and cited in this episode: Avidad, Andrea. “Deadly Barks: Acousmaticity and Post-Animality in Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga.” Film-Philosophy, vol. 24, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 222–40, https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2020.0140. Bernard, Shane. “State of the Genre: Swamp Pop Music in the 21st Century.” Bayou Teche Dispatches, 2022, http://bayoutechedispatches.blogspot.com/2022/05/state-of-genre-swamp-pop-in-21st-century.html. Błoto. “Błoto - Szlam (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Astigmatic Records, 26 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LFxsaq_0g.  Giblett, Rod. “Introduction: Looking Back, Looking Forward.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 3–14.  Giblett, Rod. “London: The “Nether World” of “the City of Dreadful Night.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 69–91 Greene, Liz. “Swamped in Sound: The Sound Image in Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga/the  Swamp.” Printed Project – Physical Stuff Made Strange, no. 15, 2012, pp. 52–60. Martell, Lucrecia, director. La Ciénaga. Lider Films, 2001. Long, Jake. “Ideological Rubble.” City Swamp, New Soil, 2024. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/5W1NctXJprxy4oc99q0AEI?si=cc81d1ea5ac24a34.  “Refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp.” YouTube, uploaded by Southern Gothic The Podcast, 19 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBs8ITobjW4. Stewart, Katy. “Establishing the Female Gaze: Narrative Subversion in Lucrecia Martel’s ‘La Niña Santa’ (2004) and ‘La Ciénaga’ (2001).” Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 205–19, https://doi.org/10.1080/14701847.2015.1179850. Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. University Press of Mississippi, 1996. “Twisting at the Fais Do-Do: Swamp Pop in South Louisiana.” Folklife in Louisiana, https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_swamp_pop.html. “USA: The Great Dismal Swamp - BBC Travel Show.” YouTube, uploaded by BBC Travel Show, 1 Feb. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_zaVMNsD7c.  Youssef, Sharif. “The Great Dismal Swamp.” 99% Invisible, 15 May 2017, 99percentinvisible.org/episode/great-dismal-swamp/.

    52 min

  11. 05/29/2024

    Ep. 1: The swamp speaks, but how do we listen? An interview with collective Field Fictions

    Hello and welcome to the first episode of the (Un)Box the Soap Podcast! Anticipating the release of the fifth edition of our journal, we would like to invite you to the realm of swamps. How does the swamp speak? What can we hear when we tune in to its sounds? What are the things we can learn about and from the swamp, and how can it inform ourselves, as well as the world we inhabit? Can our engagement with the often-neglected wetlands provide an alternative to the city spatio-temporalities and offer an antidote to our own sense of feeling ‘swamped’? These and many more questions we explore in an interview with Dominika and Iulia, who are the founders of the fieldfictions collective. Accompanied by their soundpiece project “ecotonal tones; eventually everything is swamp”, we hope to take you on the journey through the zones of transition: the world-making processes of forested wetlands.

    45 min
  • 11 Episodes

About

(Un)Box The Soap is a place where we slip from topic to topic, navigate and invade all the nooks and crannies and (un)box knowledges that are hidden. Here you will find conversations, sounds and voices from different backgrounds and in different forms: interviews, readings, sound pieces and other media. As a part of Soapbox Journal, we take a step further and explore how cultural analysis seeps through our lives and shapes us in ways that are often left unexplored. We are excited to welcome you on this journey! Website: https://www.soapboxjournal.net/ Instagram: @soapboxjournal

Information

  • Creator
    (Un)Box the Soap Podcast
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © (Un)Box the Soap Podcast
  • Show Website
    (Un)Box the Soap Podcast

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