Anthropocene Detonators

September 27, 2022 9:06 AM

Feral Atlas shows the landscapes created by Invasion, Empire, Capital and Acceleration. The project defines “feral” ecologies as ecologies that have been encouraged by human-built infrastructures, but which have developed and spread beyond human control.
Note: Use the ☰ menu at the bottom of each landscape to navigate, click "Reading Room" for essays and videos. Moderate level of academic/art world writing.

"An atlas is more than a collection of maps. It is a compendium of vantage points, an iterative instruction manual that teaches us how to look at landscapes."

Feral Atlas is co-curated by artist/architect Feifei Zhou and anthropologists Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Jennifer Deger and Alder Keleman Saxena.

posted by spamandkimchi (7 comments total)

This is a beautiful and fascinating project I can't wait to dive into more but I cannot help but feel a touch of pretentiousness in its presentation. Excited to explore and learn, however.
posted by notdanielmendelson at 10:29 AM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fascinating topic, a lot of interesting information but I'm genuinely curious.... Am I the only one unwilling to wade through the presentation to get at the info?
(Thank you for posting spamandkimchi - you are not responsible for my senility.)
posted by speug at 1:04 PM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I want this to be a book? I'm squarely in their target demographic -- I've already looked at their suggestions for how to teach this material to undergrads and graduate students -- but I'm also impatient with how Feral Atlas is organized/designed. I realize this is very intentional. In "How to Read Feral Atlas" they write:

Feral Atlas has been designed to reward exploration. Following seemingly unlikely connections and thinking with a variety of media forms can help you to grasp key underlying ideas, ideas that are specifically elaborated in the written texts to be found in the “drawers” located at the bottom of every page.

Actually now that I've read through the How to Read I feel better equipped to meander through the site...

Anywho, for people who prefer text as a medium for learning, here are a few of the essays:
Sven Beckert on Capital.
Karen Ho on Finance, circa 1980s.
Will Steffen on the Great Acceleration.
David M. Richardson on Biological Invasions of the Last 500 Years.
posted by spamandkimchi at 1:36 PM on September 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

Maybe it is me but, despite the 'prettiness', there is a real problem easily accessing the information. There are way too many layers and the interface is (kind of) sucky....
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:15 PM on September 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

Is it just my browser, or is the scroll bar not working on any of those pages?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 7:41 PM on September 27, 2022

I found the index page to be very useful.
posted by doctornemo at 11:03 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thank you doctornemo
posted by speug at 6:58 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]