Seminar
Mobilising Collaborative Artistic Practice Against Extractivist Violence
UCL Anthropocene Centre
London, UK
10.05.2021

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The Cultural Ecology seminar programme led by Edward Christie unites activist-academics working across the arts to interrogate the following question: ‘How might cultural researchers galvanise more urgent and effective responses to the climate crisis to remedy the severe inadequacy of the actions currently being set into motion by governments and corporations?’

The series of eight weekly events spotlight researchers who collectively represent the scope of the arts, including: art history, fine art, curating, architecture, dance, music, literature, poetry, film and photography.

My lecture contribution to the series explores the political ecology of mining across the globe. The excavation, extraction and exploitation of minerals – justified by the promise of immediate accelerated economic growth – means that spaces inhabited by communities become ravaged by desertification, contamination and expropriation, and sites of political and environmental dispute. It hones in on ways in which local and transnational acts of resistance are making use of technologies (such as drones) in order to monitor the impacts of extractive industries and develop micropolitical strategies. These interventions position geological and technological forms, as well as human and non-human relationships, in the same landscape. It focuses on collaborative working methodologies as an important, indeed essential, strategy in the investigation and representation of sites impacted by extractive violence.

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Link to the seminar
Link to the recording

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