Although the Russian military claims to use high-tech weaponry that ushers in a future of remotely controlled digital battles, these weapons often malfunction in the material world. Tanks get stuck in the mud; military phones have no reception; ‘precision’ weapons are guided by pen and paper. These weapons are obsolete as soon as they are deployed – yet Russian colonial violence persists. These intergenerational wars subject their targets to repeated cycles of fear and violence. As the dead of one war haunt the dead of another, Engelhardt considers how to further the hardwired obsolescence of the Russian war machine.

Akademie Schloss Solitude Fragile Solidarity festival, 2022
Teatro San Leonardo, Bologna, Italy, 2022
The Cost Of Neutrality, Goldsmiths, 2022



𝔈𝔩𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔦𝔠 𝔗𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 ⊹
How to unfold cyberwar

This performance treats the web as a sticky matter, showing space as a weapon of capture in cyberwar. Enacting the topology of a cyber domain, her work-in-progress invites a user to sneak into the folds of cyber territories, warped and fictionalised by cyberwarfare. Engelhardt theorises these violent disturbances in space as a powerful military capability that she calls 'electronic terraforming', used in the Russian invasion of Ukraine through electronic guns, fake cellular towers, and GPS jammers.

Kunsthal Charlottenborg, 2022



From Anti-Colonial Hacking to Decolonial Cyberwar

Since the inception of “cyberwarfare”, the threat of anti-colonial hacking has haunted military strategists. From cyberwarfare to drone swarms, high-end technologies have been instrumental in anti-colonial resistance—the liberation of South Africa, the Chechen wars for independence, and the ongoing Syrian war, among many. Sophie Toupin, a postdoctoral researcher of anti-colonial communication technologies, will explore the potential of cyber insurgency in conversation with Anna Engelhardt.

Trust x 0xsalon, 2022



𝔖(𝔚𝔞𝔯)𝔪 𝔐𝔞𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔢: The Military Techno-Episteme from Cybernetics to Chaoplexity

Although the Russian military inhabits a digital imaginary, its weapons often malfunction in the material world. Looking into the history of high-tech weapons, one can see why military phones have no reception, and 'precision' weapons are guided by pen and paper. Antoine Bousquet, philosopher of military science and technology, will explore the 'cyber' of 'cyber warfare', its scientific foundations, and its hardwired flaws in conversation with Anna Engelhardt.


Trust x 0xsalon, 2022



𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔲𝔠𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔯 ℭ𝔶𝔟𝔢𝔯𝔴𝔞𝔯:
Nuclear and cyber dystopias of the live broadcast.

The age of cyberwar, conceived with an attack on a nuclear facility, brought about the types of violence 'particularly complimentary' to those of nuclear threat. Nuclear and cyber dystopias culminated this year with the live broadcast of the Russian army shelling a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Svitlana Matviyneko, cyberwar philosopher whose most recent research project concerns the nuclear politics of Chernobyl NPP, will explore the reality of ongoing thermonuclear cyberwar in conversation with Anna Engelhardt.

Trust x 0xsalon, 2022