About

Thematic Webinars

This webinar series is organised with four talks online in September and October, 2021. Each one-hour talk will focus on a contemporary environmental issue, including politics, ecology, technology, and colonialism, discussed by artists, curators, and academics specialising in the field related to the issue. The topic will be thematically designed to demonstrate the significance of the specific issue in the contemporary environment, its influence on social individuals, and how artistic practice can offer a vital lens for these issues, build the discourse and enhance the social connection.

Earthlings

The term ‘earthlings’ is usually used in an interstellar context by imagined others, who we might call aliens. It gives a frame to identify all citizens building up a tremendous symbiotic interconnection on this planet. It is undeniable that the emergence of humanity marks a significant point in the entire natural history of Earth. ‘Earthlings’ was also used by American director Shaun Monson as the title of his 2005 documentary film telling stories about humanity’s day-to-day consumption of other species supplied by large industrial systems. The stance depicted various alienated bodies to demonstrate the parallel between speciesism, racism and sexism. While acknowledging the importance of not conflating these three vastly distinct systems of oppression, we consider earthlings as a heterogenous term that far from describes a scoped totality of symbiotic association, but deals with the differentiated intersections of oppression and exploitation on a global scale.

In the first decade of this century, the notion of Anthropocene became a prominent concept to consider how the existence of humanity had become a significant geological incident, which has such decisive power to change the enormous history, and future, of this planet. A considerable number of issues are raised to point out how our relationship with nature has been historically altered and intensified with the occurrence of modern progressions. Today, the term Anthropocene has become a contentious subject in itself, with alternatives now including the Capitalocene (Moore, 2016), Plantationocene (Tsing, 2015), Chthulucene (Haraway, 2016), Anthrobscene (Parikka, 2016), and Black Anthropocenes (Yusoff, 2018). While different in their approach, these all seek to question exactly what it is - and who it is - that has driven this geological and ecological change, to expose how it affects bodies differentially, and to highlight the importance of historical narratives for thinking through today’s environmental condition.

Earthlings: Anthropocene Art Talks will engage in the thematic field of humanity’s connection and influence on the environment, and it does so recognising that “human” is far from a neutral term and cannot be used to disguise the political conditions of our existence. Webinars will be organised to explore factors including natural history, colonialism, geographical politics, resource exploitation, religious philosophy, technological revolution and global consumerism. The artists’ practices included will speak to this contemporary condition through multiple investigations and field studies, demonstrating how each individual is involved within this anthropogenic system.