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Voodoo Science Park
Voodoo Science Park started life as a poetic film about the science of accident investigation practised by the Health and Safety Laboratory in the Peak District of England. In the book of the film, Victoria Halford and Steve Beard reveal the thinking that went into the preparation of the script. The Health and Safety Lab is the place where large-scale accidents such as tunnel collapses, fires and rail crashes are recreated to examine their destructive pathways. Halford and Beard explore the connections with imitative magic, drawing on the secret histories of dissident religious sects, miners and shamans as well as the prophecies of William Blake. They rethink the lab’s industrial safety rigs as monstrous emblems of the state, as theorised by Thomas Hobbes, and retrace the steps of a journey the political philosopher took through the hollow lands of the Peak in 1626. Testimony from highwaymen, ramblers and urban explorers is collected along the way. The book is composed in a fragmentary style, which weaves together philosophy, travelogue, history of science, sociology and religious study.
115 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 2011
21 people want to read
About the author
Steve Beard
27 books6 followersSteve Beard is the author of various speculative novels and experimental fictions, including Meat Puppet Cabaret. He has been called “an uncannily accurate interpreter of Paul Virilio.”
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 15, 2023
Misrepresentations of Hobbes aside, you do learn a lot about his stomping grounds and the safety lab that was built on top of it later.
October 3, 2015
This was a truly strange book.
Apparently it was based on a documentary made for British TV. It is about 1) the area known as the Peak District of England 2) the Health and Safety Laboratory there, where industrial and transportation accidents of various types are investigated and 3) Thomas Hobbs and William Blake who lived at least part of their lives in the Peak district.
I found the book extremely confusing. Perhaps it would help to see the documentary, but I'm not sure. I would like to know more about some of the issues they covered in the earlier history of the area, such as the Enclosure Acts and the response to them, the English Civil War, and the early religions of the area, some of which I have seen mentioned often in various other works but have never seen explored fully.
Their coverage of Thomas Hobbs was pretty good, but it seems to have lead them into some strange philosophical assumptions. They talk about Hobbs' book Leviathan, and intimate that the Leviathan character was supposed to indicate the government of England at the time (which is likely) and that it was intended to be a demoniac entity. Well, maybe. But then they appear to go on to imply that the current British government, despite the changes that have occurred since then, is still somewhat of a demonic entity, and that the function of the Health and Safety Lab is somehow to support or prop up this demonic entity, and that, additionally (but kind of an opposing idea, I thought) that the methods used there somehow parallel the ancient methods of sympathetic magic (hence the voodoo) and, intentionally or not, also parallel the sacrifices to ancient gods.
What I got out of it (and I could just be misunderstanding) was that they were advocating dismantling not just the government but the whole idea of a country and going back to some hypothetical golden age when all people lived in peace and harmony enjoying the blessings of their ancient gods. Or something. Anyway, it was definitely weird.
Apparently it was based on a documentary made for British TV. It is about 1) the area known as the Peak District of England 2) the Health and Safety Laboratory there, where industrial and transportation accidents of various types are investigated and 3) Thomas Hobbs and William Blake who lived at least part of their lives in the Peak district.
I found the book extremely confusing. Perhaps it would help to see the documentary, but I'm not sure. I would like to know more about some of the issues they covered in the earlier history of the area, such as the Enclosure Acts and the response to them, the English Civil War, and the early religions of the area, some of which I have seen mentioned often in various other works but have never seen explored fully.
Their coverage of Thomas Hobbs was pretty good, but it seems to have lead them into some strange philosophical assumptions. They talk about Hobbs' book Leviathan, and intimate that the Leviathan character was supposed to indicate the government of England at the time (which is likely) and that it was intended to be a demoniac entity. Well, maybe. But then they appear to go on to imply that the current British government, despite the changes that have occurred since then, is still somewhat of a demonic entity, and that the function of the Health and Safety Lab is somehow to support or prop up this demonic entity, and that, additionally (but kind of an opposing idea, I thought) that the methods used there somehow parallel the ancient methods of sympathetic magic (hence the voodoo) and, intentionally or not, also parallel the sacrifices to ancient gods.
What I got out of it (and I could just be misunderstanding) was that they were advocating dismantling not just the government but the whole idea of a country and going back to some hypothetical golden age when all people lived in peace and harmony enjoying the blessings of their ancient gods. Or something. Anyway, it was definitely weird.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews