- Kat Austen
- Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent
- Shadreck Chirikure
- Nigel Clark
- Andy Cundy
- Kristine L. DeLong
- Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł
- Lesley J. F. Green
- Irka Hajdas
- Stephen Himson
- Katrin Hornek
- Juliana A. Ivar do Sul
- Jérôme Kaiser
- Kira Lappé
- Maximilian Lau
- Joana MacLean
- Francine M.G. McCarthy
- Michelle Murphy
- Sybille Neumeyer
- Neil L. Rose
- Oliver Sann
- Susan Schuppli
- Allison Stegner
- Benjamin Steininger
- Simon Turner
- Colin Waters
- Mark Williams
- Matthew C. Wilson
- Jens Zinke
Markers: Material Delineations of the Present
(Unearthing the Present Opening Days)
Demonstrations and discussions
Whether microplastics in bodies of water and organisms, the introduction of neobiota into new environment or the accumulation of radionuclides from nuclear weapons tests, every anthropogenic marker has a political, technological and ecological history behind it.
Developed from the online publication Anthropogenic Markers, eight sessions in three stages examine how a particular chemical or biological fingerprint becomes a demarcation for the new geological epoch of the Anthropocene.
Researchers of the Anthropocene Working Group, humanities scholars and artists provide insight into the practice of “Anthropocene forensics.” The talks explore the data analysis methods and dating techniques employed to separate the individual signal from the noise as well as the laboratory practices that lie behind the chain of evidence for the Anthropocene.
As part of Unearthing the Present
Image: “Coral photo” taken during diving trip to Flower Garden Banks, Photograph by Kristine DeLong © All Rights Reserved / Illustrations from “Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context” by Protey Temen / View from the back of the coring boat USGS Snavely. Peter dal Ferro, Daniel Powers and Jennifer McKee operate the vibracore winch system. Photograph by Stephen Himson © All Rights Reserved; collage: NODE Berlin Oslo
- Friday, May 20, 2022
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Environmental Markers to Chemical Violence
With Lesley Green, Michelle Murphy, Simon Turner
Location: Vortragssaal
How do we connect pollutant markers demarcating the Anthropocene with the exploitative and unequal anthropogenic-economic-industrial systems that created them? When the decisions behind measuring tools are politically motivated to obscure rather than reveal, how can pollution be rendered perceptible? Does using contaminants to define a global change at the geological scale help us to understand that pollution does not simply “go away”? And that all planetary occupants are now archives of pollution? The session will discuss pollutant markers’ entanglement between the politics of defining and quantifying pollution, and unfulfilled responsibilities.
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
What’s So Micro About Plastics?
With Kat Austen, Juliana A. Ivar do Sul, Jérôme Kaiser, Joana MacLean
Location: Auditorium
The rapid dissemination of plastics through the air and aquatic bodies has created microplastic-rich sediment layers over the last several decades. Which refined analytical techniques are necessary to measure this process? What does the Baltic Sea drill core reveal about microplastics and the difficulty of defining their sources? Taking into account their abundance, minuscule scale, and sociopolitical entanglements, the session will explore the imprints of microplastics, touching on ways of living with their ubiquity.
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Mud, Materiality & Microfossils
With Stephen Himson, Allison Stegner, Mark Williams, Matthew C. Wilson
Location: Ausstellungshalle 2
How can tiny biological particles point to ongoing processes of globalization and mass extinction? And how can we think across scales and time to connect formation processes in the geological record, environmental change, and human activity? Hidden as invisible stowaways, neobiota ride in the tailwind of human movement across the globe. Taking a comparative look at two heavily disturbed ecosystems in the San Francisco Bay area, this session will explore the untold histories that microfossils can reveal about neobiota and the Anthropocene.
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Troubling Sedimentations
With Maximilian Lau, Francine M. G. McCarthy, Sybille Neumeyer
Location: Ausstellungshalle 2
How has the dispersal of life-enabling substances like phosphorus and nitrogen led to drastic repercussions through the eutrophication of waterscapes, increased algae blooms, and groundwater pollution? What role do the agrarian interventions of modernity play in these disbalances of ecological metabolisms? Flowing with the drifts, shifts, and rifts of matter, this session traces the processes of circulation and sedimentation of nitrogen, phosphorus, knowledge, and cultural values.
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Reading the Ashes
With Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł, Neil L. Rose, Benjamin Steininger
Location: Auditorium
It has been a tough lesson for humanity and the rest of the planet to learn that when something burns, it does not simply disappear. Whether toxic substances, acid rain, or even knowledge accumulation, something is always left behind. How does the living organism of peat archive these remains of our fire culture? By taking a close look at the shifts in combustion practices, the session will examine how one of the most polluted regions in Europe, the “Black Triangle”, became an ideal record of the historical changes of the Anthropocene.
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Conversations Beyond the Human
With Kat Austen, Nigel Clark, Kristine L. DeLong, Jens Zinke
Location: Vortragssaal
How do corals experience the world? How do their bodies sense and archive environmental disruptions in the context of the climate crisis? And how do they act as agents between the outer and inner earth? From ancient cultures all over the world to Darwin and Marx, corals have been icons of the non-human world, now becoming one of the central symbols of the environmental crisis. Moving beyond viewing corals solely as a passive measuring device for planetary changes, this session will open up discussions on interlinked fates, disrupted agencies, and more-than-human perspectives on global environmental change.
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Archaeology of the Anthropocene
With Shadreck Chirikure, Katrin Hornek, Kira Lappé, Oliver Sann, Simon Turner
Location: Auditorium
Plastic, concrete, ceramics—much of the millions of tons of waste produced by humans will be around for millions of years as technofossils. What differentiates the fossil record of the Holocene from the early Anthropocene? What will future technofossils be? What will our remains reveal about us thousands of years from now? Exploring modified grounds located in Vienna and Great Zimbabwe, the session will take a close look at the transformation processes of our remains and the politics of interpretation, ending with a read-along.
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Fingerprints of the Nuclear Age
With Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Andy Cundy, Irka Hajdas, Susan Schuppli, Colin Waters
Location: Foyer
The spike in artificial radiation from nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s might mark the beginning of the Anthropocene. These radioactive products have left their residues in soil, sediment, ice, and even our bodies. How is it possible to measure, let alone visualize, these invisible, minuscule amounts of radiation that escape all sensory data? The session will explore how the (in)visibility of radiation is linked to the legacy of the nuclear age, histories of public fear, political secrecy, and counter-expertise.
