Apr 22, 2022

The search for geological evidence of the Anthropocene – lead-up to publications, exhibitions and events at HKW

Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context
Online publication
anthropocene-curriculum.org/anthropogenic-markers

Unearthing the Present
Opening Days
May 19–22, 2022

Anthropocene Working Group. A Scientific Forum
Scientific presentations
May 18–20, 2022

Earth Indices. Processing the Anthropocene
Exhibition
May 19–Oct 17, 2022
Press tour with Giulia Bruno and Armin Linke:
May 18, 2022, 11.00 am
Register at

An international group of geologists is searching for evidence of the beginning of the new Anthropocene epoch at various locations around the globe. With the long-term project Evidence & Experiment, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) looks at the socio-political dimensions of this search and asks how the new epoch can be mapped and remodeled.

In 2022, Haus der Kulturen der Welt is accompanying the research by the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) on the scientific formalization of the new geological epoch with a wide range of events, online publications and installations.

Since 2019, the AWG has coordinated a global search for stratigraphic evidence of the Anthropocene. International research teams took geological samples and cores in Antarctica, the Baltic Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and northeastern China, among other places, to reveal the onset of the human-made epoch.

From microplastics to carbonaceous particles produced by burning fossil fuels to radionuclides from atmospheric nuclear weapons testings, teams of researchers are examining the various cores for a wide variety of markers to uncover clear evidence of the Anthropocene in Earth’s environmental archives.

Accompanying the AWG’s research, the publication Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science will be released on April 22. The publication is the prelude to the events at Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Beginning on May 18, the scientific presentations Anthropocene Working Group. A Scientific Forum, the theme days Unearthing the Present and the exhibition Earth Indices by Giulia Bruno and Armin Linke will take place at HKW.

During the second half of the year, these will be followed by the discourse events Where is the Planetary? and Anthropocene Curriculum Season 2022.

At a final press conference in December 2022, the AWG will announce which of the various cores will provide evidence for the new geologic epoch and be submitted as an official proposal to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS).

Part of Evidence & Experiment.

Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context

Online publication
anthropocene-curriculum.org/anthropogenic-markers

The special publication Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context explores and contours some of the historical contexts, epistemic settings, and conceptual interventions around the ongoing work of Anthropocene geology. In seven thematic dossiers, contributions from the fields of geochemistry, history, artistic research, archaeology, literary studies, and anthropology reflect on selected material markers of human impacts on earthly strata. Taken together, they form a unique interdisciplinary conversation helping to map out and expand upon the many ways of tracing the evidence that defines the onset of a human-dominated and crisis-laden epoch.

Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context is a publication by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) and a contribution to the program Evidence & Experiment (2019–2022), in which Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the MPIWG mark their long-term collaboration with the Anthropocene Working Group.

Editors: Christoph Rosol and Giulia Rispoli
With contributions by: Marcia Bjornerud, Adam Bobbette, Kate Brown, Nigel Clark, Anna Echterhölter, Sebastián Ureta, various author teams of the AWG and many more.

Unearthing the Present

Opening Days
May 19–22, 2022

What is the new geological epoch made of? The Opening Days connect the geological analysis of the present with a discussion of the changing scope for social and political agency.

How does a new geological epoch take shape? What do the sediments of Earth tell us about the present and about the actions and decisions we have to take today? Over the past two years, the Anthropocene Working Group has been assembling stratigraphic evidence for the geological reality of the new Earth epoch. Unearthing the Present connects these analyses with a discussion of the changing scope for social and political agency. In collaborative Core Readings, scientists, researchers, artists and activists decipher stratigraphic samples from pacific corals, from lake deposits in northeastern China and from speleothems found in an Italian cave. They examine the microscopic traces left in Earth’s archives by the burning of fossil fuels, atmospheric nuclear bomb testing and the disruption of marine ecosystems to jointly identify ways and means of responding to these signals.

With contributions by Francine M.G.McCarthy, Ann Cotten, Shadreck Chirikure, Victor Galaz, Lesley Green, Michelle Murphy, Sophia Roosth, Susan Schuppli, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Simon Turner, Mark Willliams, Mi You and many more.

More information: hkw.de/en/unearthing

Register via

Press photos: hkw.de/pressphotos

Anthropocene Working Group. A Scientific Forum

Scientific presentations
May 18–20, 2022
Attendance only with prior registration:

During Unearthing the Present, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) will present the conclusive stratigraphic findings from twelve sites that hold the potential to become a GSSP for the formal demarcation of the Anthropocene. The twelve research teams will present these different environmental archives - such as Antarctic ice core, lake sediments, corals or peat - and discuss the material evidence of a variety of anthropogenic impacts. Interested publics from within and outside the geosciences are invited to attend the three-day internal forum.

With contributions by Anthony D. Barnosky, Francine M.G.McCarthy, Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł, Yongming Han, Liz Thomas and many more.

Earth Indices. Processing the Anthropocene

Exhibition
May 19–Oct 17, 2022
Press tour with Giulia Bruno and Armin Linke:
May 18, 2022, 11.00 am
Register at

An exhibition by artists Giulia Bruno and Armin Linke explores the scientific and social conditions producing the new geological epoch, the Anthropocene.

How do we make sense of the transformations in the Earth system? Who is writing the chronicle of the planet? What are the tools and practices that allow us to read Earth’s changes? Over the past two years, Giulia Bruno and Armin Linke have closely followed the research of the Anthropocene Working Group on the geological evidence for the new Earth epoch. Earth Indices is the result of a close collaboration between the two artists and the many scientists involved. Earth Indices focuses on the social interaction in which this scientific research takes place, shedding light on the specific procedures and tasks required for the production of geological evidence. In this way, a multilayered archive of the demarcating process for the new geological epoch emerges.

More informationen: hkw.de/en/indices

Press photos: hkw.de/pressphotos

anthropocene-curriculum.org

Online research platform and archive

The platform anthropocene-curriculum.org continuously publishes extensive materials on the geological research of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) as well as science history and socio-political classifications and commentaries. In addition, the events and installations taking place as part of the project can be visited, retraced and explored in depth. A research pool enables users to independently explore a continuously growing archive of material. Since November 2021, new courses have been launched regularly, thematic compilations of new and existing articles curated by researchers, theorists and practitioners. This includes studies from the last ten years, which the website brings together as the central publication platform and archive of the Anthropocene Curriculum (AC), an experiment in transdisciplinary practices of research and education in the Anthropocene launched in 2013 by HKW and MPIWG.

Looking ahead

In the second half of the year, Evidence & Experiment will continue with the discourse and performance program Where is the Planetary? (Oct 12–16, 2022) and the Anthropocene Curriculum (AC) Season 2022, which opens insights into the activities of the AC’s international partner projects at anthropocene-curriculum.org. An AWG press conference in December will announce which of the various cores will provide evidence for the new geological epoch.

More information about the fall programs at: hkw.de

Partners

Unearthing the Present was developed in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG, Berlin) and the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) as part of Evidence & Experiment (2019–2022), supported by the Federal Foreign Office in the framework of The Anthropocene and Its Implications for Archives and Museums and by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media based on a ruling of the German Bundestag.

Earth Indices. Processing the Anthropocene is an exhibition project by Giulia Bruno, Armin Linke and Haus der Kulturen der Welt in collaboration with the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG). It is part of Evidence & Experiment (2019–2022), supported by the Federal Foreign Office in the framework of The Anthropocene and Its Implications for Archives and Museums and by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media based on a ruling of the German Bundestag.

Evidence & Experiment (2019–2022) was made possible by the collaboration between Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) and is supported by the Federal Foreign Office in the framework of The Anthropocene and Its Implications for Archives and Museums and by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media based on a ruling of the German Bundestag. It is part of the Anthropocene Curriculum, which is developed by HKW and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in collaboration with many international partners.

Haus der Kulturen der Welt is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and by the Federal Foreign Office.

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Updated information for visitors at hkw.de/visit

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Haus der Kulturen der Welt
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