Never Ground

Conceived by visual artist Natália Trejbalová in collaboration with the researcher and art historian Stella Succi, the book accompanies the film Never Ground, supported by the 13th edition of Italian Council, and incorporates video stills as part of its visual apparatus.
Never Ground is an artist's book composed of fragments of texts from different eras and contexts—literary, science fiction, philosophical, scientific—all centered on the theme of the subterranean. This transhistorical, non-encyclopedic collection includes, among others, excerpts from Reza Negarestani, Jussi Parikka, Ursula K. Le Guin, Athanasius Kircher, Jules Verne, and Helena P. Blavatsky, and presents itself as a subjective and partial window onto the connection between the subterranean and the extraterrestrial. Discourses on the underground, emblematic of many urgent contemporary issues such as resource extraction and the concept of deep time, highlight the profound link between belowground exploration and technological advancement. This relationship, particularly evident in the nineteenth century (represented by many of the texts included), resonates strongly today, as we witness a new space race that points toward emerging forms of extraterrestrial extractivism and colonialism.