- Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent
- Andrea Borsato
- Nigel Clark
- Ann Cotten
- Victor Galaz
- Orit Halpern
- Stephen Himson
- Cymene Howe
- Sophia Roosth
- Liz Thomas
- Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
- Mark Williams
- Matthew C. Wilson
- Ricarda Winkelmann
Clashing Presents
(Unearthing the Present Opening Days)
Processes like glacial melt, species extinction, economic growth and the formation of political policies are both deeply intertwined and follow very particular individual temporalities. How can we meaningfully and urgently address these critical clashes of planetary and societal time?
The early Anthropocene is characterized by a critical dynamic of conflicting temporalities. While Earth’s spheres—from the biosphere to the technosphere—are undergoing various dynamics of extreme acceleration and disruption, societal processes and institutions of governance and decision-making seem unable to keep pace. The Earth system is apparently about to cross a number of tipping points that will affect life on the planet for an indefinite period of time. The narrowing time corridors for disrupting these dynamics transform the question of justice and survival in the Anthropocene into a question of aligning these critical temporalities.
By closely examining the imprints that these “clashing presents” have already left in Earth’s archives, this three-part session explores the competing time horizons, latency effects and accelerations that run counter to the pulse of late-Holocene societies. Each session starts from a site of stratigraphic research on the Anthropocene to explore a specific set of conflicting temporalities.
As part of Unearthing the Present
Image: Scanning microscopy workplace, Photo: © Beata Smieja–Król / Coral photo taken during diving trip to Flower Garden Banks, Photo: © Kristine DeLong; Collage: NODE Berlin Oslo
- Saturday, May 21, 2022
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Clashing Presents: Between Big Melt and Small Governance
Proceeding from stratigraphic analysis on Palmer Peninsula, Antarctica, this session contrasts the temporalities of the tipping points in the Antarctic ice shield with the temporal dynamics of political institutions. How do policies need to change in order to do justice to the vanishing cryosphere? Which temporal immediacies and horizons do new forms of collectives, connected through a rising global ocean, need to coalesce?
With Victor Galaz, Cymene Howe, Liz Thomas and Ricarda Winkelmann
Location: Auditorium
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Clashing Presents: Memory and Oblivion in Times of Extinction
Through examining the recent biotic changes recorded in the sediments of the San Francisco Bay, this session explores the accelerating processes and cumulative events of species extinction. In the face of the sixth mass extinction, the cultural foundations of archiving, preserving and memorizing find expression in the conservation of genetic information for species, in resurrection biology and in de-extinction methods. To what degree can we know the scope and pace of current species extinction? Are we even capable of grasping the irreversibility of biological extinction? How do extinction events inform our understanding of life and species in general?
With Orit Halpern, Stephen Himson, Sophia Roosth, Mark Williams and Matthew C. Wilson
Location: Auditorium
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Clashing Presents: Reconciling Presents
Mineral deposits in caves can contain rich data sets on past environmental conditions. But chemical information in water and minerals often takes a long time to travel from Earth’s surface and into caves, where they then slowly solidify as stalagmites and other forms of speleothems. This often results in a time lag of several decades between a climate event and its recording within a cave structure. This session takes the stratigraphic research in Ernesto Cave, Italy, as a literal and metaphorical starting point to explore possibilities of reconfiguration and reconciliation of the conflicting temporalities of the Anthropocene. How can we conceive a truly planetary time? Is decelerating a viable strategy for gaining time? Or should we rather make efforts to turn the time of confusion and collapse into a time of potential and renewal?
With Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Andrea Borsato, Ann Cotten, Nigel Clark and Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Location: Auditorium
