When matter takes a position. Post-anthropocentric landscapes in contemporary art

Abstract

In response to the systemic global crisis a new cultural paradigm is taking place as an imaginative alternative the hegemonic modern narrative, displacing humanity from its persistent anthropocentrism, under which the instrumentalization of the world and its materials has been justified exclusively in materialist terms. This network of thought advocates for a new subjectivity fueled by the hybridization between nature, techno-science and culture, where contemporary art acts as a source of critical knowledge to establish a transdisciplinary approach towards the understanding of this paradigmatic setting. Many artists like Olafur Eliasson, Ursula Biemann or Regina de Miguel for example, in collaboration with specialists in climatology, hydrology, oceanography, and especially those who work in the study of the solid Earth—geology, geography, soil sciences or geodesy—go beyond the simple representation of nature to propose multidisciplinary complex landscapes grounded in post-anthropocentric affect and emotion.