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Introducing Peter Mlakar
The NSK's Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy was formed in 1987 with the arrival of Peter Mlakar. Previously there was a Department for Pure, Practical Philosophy and Rethoric where members of the other groups within the NSK would work on the texts and statements. The arrival of Peter Mlakar as a member, allowed a new permanent philosophy department with its own projects.
Peter Mlakar is from the Slovene town of Škofja Loka, a thousand year old castle town north west of Ljubljana. Before joining the NSK he was originally working in publishing as an editor, occasionally writing erotic novels and many philosophy pieces including a theoretical piece in the anthology 'Punk pod Slovenci' (Punk under the Slovenes) in 1984. In 1982 he appeared in the film 'Rdeci boogie ali Kaj ti je deklica' (Red Boogie), 'Trije prispevki k slovenski blaznosti' (Three Contributions to Slovene Madness) in 1983 and Michael Benson's 'Predictions of Fire' in 1995. Active in the music scene, especially punk which was particularly popular in Yugoslavia. Assisting bands such as Pankrti through his involvement with ŠKUC - Student Culture & Art Centre. The main people involved with ŠKUC were Peter, Taja Vidmar-Brejc and Igor Vidmar (Pankrti's manager) along with Marina Grzinic who directed their cultural programme and was one of the key champions of alternative culture. Igor Vidmar soon became Laibach's manager in an informal sense until they had signed up with Mute Records. Essentially Laibach managed themselves but Igor did the bulk of the work and was highly effective in bringing Laibach into contact with the right people. Inevitably Peter soon came into contact with Laibach. While assisting Laibach through ŠKUC, he also came into contact with Irwin working with Dušan Mandic on the editorial board of the periodical 'Problemi' at the time of the publication of the special NSK issue in 1985. Dušan was the director of ŠKUC between 1980-82 before getting involved with Irwin. Gradually over the next couple of years he would get more and more involved with NSK, finding a lot of common ground with his work and that of the NSK's before eventually joining up.
Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy was formed during Laibach's residency at Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg where they were taking part in Macbeth. The department initially worked closely with Laibach delivering speeches at concerts and at the launch of their albums. The addresses complimented Laibach's provocative style, occasionally creating a bigger storm than Laibach, the 1997 performance with Slovene Philharmonic being one good example. On the whole most rock audiences are generally bemused with the untypical feature; usually baffled with the complex nature which often would require some level of analysing. Belgrade 1989, Yugoslavia was crumbling, war was expected and everyone was waiting for the spark to ignite. Laibach took the risky decision to perform in Belgrade despite the strong suspicion Laibach had some responsibility for the ominous situation. Before the concert began Peter read out a speech in Serbian and German warning the audience the danger of Milosevic's agenda. Milosevic's quotes in Serbian interlaced with Hitler's in German and ending with Chamberlain's historic words, from 1938, that we would see "peace in our time". The department's role soon expanded, working with other departments and organising NSK formal events where Peter often took the role of master of ceremonies. One of the NSK's most significant events was 'NSK State Sarajevo' in 1995. In conjunction with the Obala Art Centre, Radio Zid and the Open Society Institutes of Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the NSK groups entered Sarajevo to deliver one of their most important exhibitions and the biggest cultural event in Bosnia since the start of the war. The opening ceremony unveiled a commemorative plaque with Peter giving a welcoming address to an audience including members of cultural and political circles in Sarajevo. In the lecture on the theme 'The Apocalypse of Europe and Possible Deliverance' delivered by Peter, the Bosnians were asked to conquer evil by forgiving their enemies.
Peter's main influence in philosophy comes from the German 18th century philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and to some extent Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) the German philosopher who had gained notoriety for supporting Hitler however is revered for his original thinking and developing 'existential phenomenology'. The NSK occasionally invites Slovenia's well-known Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Zizek along to their events. At the 'NSK Staat Berlin', Zizek delivered a three-hour lecture on 'Woman, Evil and Europe' and offering a discussion on the topic. Zizek takes a keen interest in the activities of Laibach/NSK writing several papers, including 'Why Laibach and NSK are not Fascists?' and 'The Enlightenment in Laibach'. Slavoj is a professor at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana and a founding member of the Ljubljana Association for Theoretic Psychoanalysis.
In 1992 Peter decided to mark the 500th anniversary of birth of the famous mediaeval scientist and alchemist Paracelsus (Phillipus Aureoulous Theophastus Bombastus von Hochenheim) after receiving an invite from the city of Villach (Slovene name Beljak) in Austria. Utilising the Laibach sub-group 300,000VK, also featuring Dejan Knez and Iztok Turk. They performed at the artistic event called 'The Whip of God' in Villach, the Slovene-inhabited area of Carinthia where Paracelsus was from. The music was dark experimental techno described as Satanic Techno. A studio album was also recorded and released later with a promotional video 'Venite Lucifer', made in cooperation with Retrovision. Peter continued his musical interest as a member of 300,000VK, so far releasing three albums. 'Also Sparach Johann Paul II' released in 1996 dedicated to the forthcoming triumph of Christian Religion 19.9.1999, though the project was conceived as a satanic techno response to the visit of the Pope to Slovenia in 1996 and the hype surrounding it. Within the sleeve notes Mlakar quotes from Nietzsche's 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' and music is heavily sampled from Richard Strauss's Orchestral inspiration of Nietzsche's Zarathustra. The third album 'Hard Drive' featuring samples of Bill Gates, he also features on the cover. Gates the revolutionary and powerful world figure who's influence and contribution to world certainly more than matches Paracelsus and John Paul II. This project looks at the increasing importance and reliance of computer technology with it's impending change to man. However man will also have to adapt to a world that will be less random and more predictable. The music is more minimalistic than the previous albums and overall has a heavy computerised or programmed feel to it. Also Peter was not as heavily involved as he was for the previous two albums. The promotional video 'Fresh Window' was made for the project.
Text - DHC, assisted by Alexei Monroe
Two recent books by Zizek are reviewed by Alexei at Central Europe Review
Slavoj Zizek - Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism?
Slavoj Zizek - The Fright of Real Theory
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Red Boogie 1982
Predictions of Fire
Paracelsus
Also Sparach Johann Paul II
Hard Drive
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