Investigating Ecological Subjectivity: Intimate Transactions (Shifting Dusts)

ABSTRACT: Despite countless warnings over past decades we continue to carve away the life support systems that we and our future generations depend upon. We live under the enduring mantle of a global crisis, a self-imposed act of unparalleled and seemingly irrational self-destruction which we misname as ecological – we are the crisis. Numerous contemporary theorists have suggested that this 'problem of ecology' indicates a crisis of human subjectivity and agency linked to a fundamental problem in how we image ourselves within the world. Having observed how much new media art praxis operates largely without awareness of the homo-ecological implications of those practices I began developing new processes for conceptualising and developing media art works to which I applied the term 'ecosophical'. My objective was to discover whether such works could be used to create contexts within which participants might reflect upon connections between the ‘problem of ecology’ and the proposed problem of humanity/human subjectivity. To demonstrate this I introduce the history and context for ecosophical praxis and describe a project under development, Intimate Transactions (Shifting Dust). I conclude by suggesting new directions for other artists interested in engaging with this type of praxis.

PRESENTED AT: PixelRaiders 2, Sheffield, England.

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FULL REFERENCE: Armstrong, Keith M. (2004) Investigating Ecological Subjectivity: Intimate Transactions (Shifting Dusts). In Proceedings PixelRaiders 2: Interdisciplinary Art/Design Conference, Sheffield Hallam University, England.