The discovery of the elements and the fading of magic, as a common narrative of modernity, is currently under scrutiny. Increasingly, historical studies reveal that at the pivotal moment of transition from the fin de siècle to modernity, science did not necessarily render nature lifeless. Empirical examinations of "elements" and "vitality" interweave, collectively shaping the landscape of the European scientific and philosophical network. Using the research on Marie Curie's interactions with female mediums (spiritualists) as a case study, this presentation will discuss the fictitious nature of the narrative of the "desacralized material world" and the necessity of restoring a cross-binary relational ontology. This is in response to the recent emergence of "agential realism" or "enchanted materialism."

About the Speaker: Wang Hongzhe

Wang Hongzhe, born in Anshan, Liaoning, is a media historian and a faculty member at Peking University. He is also the initiator of the research groups "Beijing Media Group" and "Cahiers du Jeu", as well as the co-founder of "Assembly".