Capitalo, Chthulu, and a Much Hotter Compost Pile. Über Mensch-Umwelt-Verhältnisse

About

It is a process driven by environmental pollution, ocean acidification, resource extraction, the burning of fossil fuels, agrochemical industries, and warfare, to list but a few of the anthropogenic, human factors. The term Anthropocene is commonly used to describe this very condition, giving name to a new geological epoch, defined by the significant human impact on Earth's biospheric stability. 

But this term is not undisputed. It places humanity as a major geological agent, rendering invisible the structural responsibility of neoliberal financial elites and corporations. The Capitalocene –the age of capital– in contrast, draws attention to global financial systems, highlighting the climatic impact of the capitalist political economy. Being aware of the biophysical costs of capitalism and its unequal distribution of human and ecological expenses, the current debate concerning how to think about humanity-in-nature and nature-in-humanity is a core theme of this exhibition.

Human and non-human actors are entangled in complex and tentacular networks, a myriad of ongoing connections extending across biotic and abiotic processes. The Chthulucene is the age of multi-species interactions and generative collaborations in a damaged world. Chthonic or earthly entities entwine with speculative fabulation, science fiction, science fact and speculative feminism to think of possible worlds and times in unexpected company. It is a rich terrain of muddled alignments that compose more livable stories beyond catastrophist and determinist discourses.

In an attempt to reject essentialist propositions and engage with postcolonial ecological thought, "Capitalo, Chthulu, and a Much Hotter Compost Pile" shows artistic positions that consider alternative ontological politics, reflect on environmental questions and speculate on possible narrations for our precarious times. These are stories of life (and non-life) told from the other side, to rethink how humans can fit, co-belong, co-produce, co-weave and com-post within this web of life.

Featuring: Ana Alenso, Madison Bycroft, Shelley Etkin, Liza Dieckwisch, Sonia Fernández Pan, Jelena Fužinato, GeoVanna Gonzalez, Ben Greber & Bram Kuypers, Tue Greenfort, Anne Duk Hee Jordan, Femke Herregraven, Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky & Sina Ribak, Marta Leite, Herbert Lohner, Regina de Miguel, Zoë Claire Miller, Nucbeade, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Anaïs Senli, Michael E. Smith, Henry Wilde & Neo Hülcker