DIGIMAG 77 – THE ARTS ECOSYSTEM
The Anthropocene Issue: Call for Papers
Deadline: 16th December 2017
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Already in 2005 the American environmentalist (and 350.org founder) Bill McKibben pointed out the lack of awareness about climate change and other environmental issues, while addressing a specific call for action to arts: “Oddly, though we know about it, we don’t know about it. It hasn’t registered in our gut; it isn’t part of our culture. Where are the books? The poems? The plays? The goddamn operas?”.
We cannot deny the vital role arts and creativity have to play within the energy and environmental field, especially in the current Anthropocene age, where the human impact on climate and nature is dominant and undisputed. Like Josef Koudelka‘s photographs of lands dominated by head frames, waste heaps, factory stacks and dried-up lakes freezed showing: “consequences of the industrial revolution that facilitated an unprecedented upsurge of the living standards but at the cost of irreversible changes in nature”, Jussi Parikka’s recent theories included in his book “The Anthrobscene” (2015) also alert we’re now living in an “environmental wasteland, where media never die. A toxic scenario in which corporate and human desires as a geophysical force”.
Diverse are the ways in which artists can contribute to address and deepen public understanding of environmental topics as climate change, alternative energy sources etc. In particular networked technologies are more and more active in the space between local and global, so they can maybe represent a real opportunity for the environmental crisis we are living, instead of being a threat factor. In this sense, also the materiality of media and digital tools themselves urge to a serious questioning about their molecular compositions, connecting them to deeper analysis on earth substrata.
If the Anthropocene Working Group suggests that the first nuclear test at Los Alamos in 1945 should be considered the milestone for this contemporary epoch in which modern mechanised industry and the use of fossil fuels have become the dominant force for changes in our atmosphere, seas and land, what is the status of the current discussions about environmental issues and their direct impact on a social, cultural and economic level?
What kind of artistic narratives are proven to be compelling and effective in raising ecological awareness? What is the challenge for arts and culture within this scenario? What are the main contributions to the media theories for the Anthropocene?
We look forward to hearing from you!
Silvia Bertolotti, Marco Mancuso and the Digicult Editorial Board
Technical Details
With this call Digicult aims at researching contributions on the mentioned topic, especially from individuals active in the artistic and academic fields (curators, critics, hackers, fabbers, creative producers, lab managers, activists, designers, theorists, independent and academic writers, scholars, artists, etc.)
An abstract of 200 words and a full text of max 5000 words, as well as books, events reviews and interviews (1000 to 2000 words) should be sent to: journal@digicult.it
- a) Deadline for submission of full article for consideration
- b) File as .doc / .docx / .odt / .txt (no Pdf are allowed)
- c) 5 to 10 images at 300 dpi resolution (print resolution) as Zip file
- d) correct captions for images
- e) please follow the guidelines