POST GROWTH (EXHIBITION STATEMENT)
What ideological, social and biophysical factors have precipitated the current environmental crises? What agency is available for transformative practices and imaginaries to confront the continuous growth of our energy consumption?
The Post Growth exhibition invites us to challenge dominant narratives about growth and progress, and explore the radical implications of a speculative economic model based on energy emitted by the Sun. The exhibition provides perspectives for a shift away from the overexploitation of fossil fuels —ancient sunlight— on which the reproduction of our societies mainly depends today.
The series of artworks presented re-envision social metabolism through an understanding of the energy it requires, reconnecting human survival with the living, material qualities of the biosphere, drawing on ecofeminism, indigenous knowledge, environmental accounting and historical materialism.
In complement to the main exhibition, a series of workshops, discussions and filmed interviews will further explore the forms that a post-fossil society could take and the challenges we need to confront to get there.
Post Growth is an invitation to a collective and practical examination of the future of life on the planet, examining the notion of growth, in its many facets and implications, touching the limits of technology, of politics and of our imaginations.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG WITH BARUCH GOTTLIEB, PAULINE BRIAND, JULIEN MAUDET AND CLEMENCE SEURAT
MORE INFO: POSTGROWTH.ART | PRESS IMAGES
POST GROWTH TOOLKIT (THE INTERVIEWS), 2020
As the COVID-19 crisis broke, there were a number of calls to seize the situation and bring about an ecologically-informed transformation of the capitalist growth model, even going so far as to make a radical break with the prevailing model. Today, we see most governments intent on returning their economies as soon as possible to the productivity levels from before the interruption, despite the dire consequences this will have for the environment. Those who called for a rupture have not been able to grasp the opportunity to bring about a radical reenvisioning of sustainable humanity on this planet.
In order to better understand the foundations of today’s political and ecological crises, the artist collective set out to meet researchers, theoreticians and activists, and collected a number of stories and operational concepts in the form of video interviews. Focusing on notions such as planetary limits, the rebound effect, ecosystem services and the seventh-generation principle, these videos are published online to help cultivate a community and a set of theoretical and narrative tools that re-examine the utilitarian vision of nature conceived merely as a standing reserve for human industry, delegitimizing the logic of resource optimization, and technological solutionism. These proposals seek to encourage the prototyping and envisioning of radically different modes of living in relation with our environment.
With this in mind, during the course of the exhibition this space will occasionally take the form of a film set where we will host a number of meetings inviting researchers to contribute to this collective reflection, to sketch out paths leading towards social forms which understand themselves as part of all life and take into account the complexity of their ecosystemic symbiosis.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, CLEMENCE SEURAT
CONTRIBUTORS: DASHA ILINA, YUBO DONG, MACHA SAVYKINE, CAMILLE MARTENOT
DIGITAL VIDEOS WITH SOUND
SPECIAL THANKS TO GEOFFREY BOWKER AND ROSE O'LEARY.
POST GROWTH TOOLKIT (THE GAME), 2020
In order to better understand the foundations of today’s political and ecological crises, the artist collective set out to meet researchers, theoreticians and activists, and collected a number of stories and operational concepts in the form of video interviews. Focusing on notions such as planetary limits, the rebound effect, ecosystem services and the seventh-generation principle, these videos are published online to help cultivate a community and a set of theoretical and narrative tools that re-examine the utilitarian vision of nature conceived merely as a standing reserve for human industry, delegitimizing the logic of resource optimization, and technological solutionism. These proposals seek to encourage the prototyping and envisioning of radically different modes of living in relation with our environment.
With this in mind, during the course of the exhibition this space will occasionally take the form of a film set where we will host a number of meetings inviting researchers to contribute to this collective reflection, to sketch out paths leading towards social forms which understand themselves as part of all life and take into account the complexity of their ecosystemic symbiosis.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, CLEMENCE SEURAT
CONTRIBUTORS: DASHA ILINA, YUBO DONG, MACHA SAVYKINE, CAMILLE MARTENOT
DIGITAL VIDEOS WITH SOUND
SPECIAL THANKS TO GEOFFREY BOWKER AND ROSE O'LEARY.
POST GROWTH TOOLKIT (THE GAME), 2020
The Earth’s ecosystems are undergoing irremediable changes as a result of human development, the source of a number of crises whose consequences can be measured on the scale of the planet. Rethinking our way of coexisting with our environment requires us to reevaluate the continuous growth of our energy footprints. These prototypes of critical games ‘Post Growth Toolkit’ are invitations to reprogram ourselves out of the economic growth orthodoxy. The series highlights the material conditions necessary to maintain our current standard of living in order to better understand how we may reproduce these differently.
At the intersection of science and speculative fiction, the ‘Post Growth Toolkit’ game proposes to literally reshuffle our world-views and to share stories, concepts and objects to re-examine how we are programmed and to stimulate new modes of understanding. It takes the form of a tactical card game: where small groups of players are invited to explore a number of key notions. The game becomes a means of transmission and collective debate intended to help participants find their bearings in a period of radical change.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, JULIEN MAUDET, BARUCH GOTTLIEB, PAULINE BRIAND AND CLEMENCE SEURAT
CONTRIBUTORS: DASHA ILINA, YUBO DONG, MACHA SAVYKINE, CAMILLE MARTENOT
INSTALLATION, ILLUMINATED GAME BOARDS, PLAYING CARDS, ONLINE RESOURCE PLATFORM, TAKE AWAY POSTERS
SPECIAL THANKS TO CATHERINE LENOBLE.
PRODUCTION: iMAL (BE) | COPRODUCTION: Biennale Chroniques (FR) | WITH SUPPORT FROM: Production Intérieure Brute Tours (FR), ArTeC Paris (FR), Le Labomedia Orléans, (FR) CNC (Dicréam)(FR)
ENERGY SLAVE TOKEN (HUMAN LABOR TO FOSSIL FUEL CONVERSION UNITS), 2020
At the intersection of science and speculative fiction, the ‘Post Growth Toolkit’ game proposes to literally reshuffle our world-views and to share stories, concepts and objects to re-examine how we are programmed and to stimulate new modes of understanding. It takes the form of a tactical card game: where small groups of players are invited to explore a number of key notions. The game becomes a means of transmission and collective debate intended to help participants find their bearings in a period of radical change.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, JULIEN MAUDET, BARUCH GOTTLIEB, PAULINE BRIAND AND CLEMENCE SEURAT
CONTRIBUTORS: DASHA ILINA, YUBO DONG, MACHA SAVYKINE, CAMILLE MARTENOT
INSTALLATION, ILLUMINATED GAME BOARDS, PLAYING CARDS, ONLINE RESOURCE PLATFORM, TAKE AWAY POSTERS
SPECIAL THANKS TO CATHERINE LENOBLE.
PRODUCTION: iMAL (BE) | COPRODUCTION: Biennale Chroniques (FR) | WITH SUPPORT FROM: Production Intérieure Brute Tours (FR), ArTeC Paris (FR), Le Labomedia Orléans, (FR) CNC (Dicréam)(FR)
ENERGY SLAVE TOKEN (HUMAN LABOR TO FOSSIL FUEL CONVERSION UNITS), 2020
In 1940, R. Buckminster Fuller introduced the term “energy slave” to describe the
energy required to power the modern lifestyle [1]. The concept “energy slave” refers to
the technological or mechanical energy equivalent to the physical working capacity
of a human adult.
The energy requirements for any lifestyle can be calculated as a number of “energy slaves” equivalent to the number of human labourers which otherwise would be needed to produce the same amount of energy. In 2013, it has been estimated that the average European employs the equivalent of 400-500 “energy slaves” 24 hours a day [2].
The Energy Slave Token consists of a series of weights made of bitumen, which are the energy equivalents to specific quantities of physical human labour time (ie. 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, 1 life). This series of weights is designed to present the orders of magnitude that separate the labor power generated by our human bodies from the energy exploited mostly from fossil fuels which powers the technosphere. These open source tokens are designed to be easily replicated, used and distributed without restriction.
[1] Richard Buckminster Fuller (Feb. 1940). World Energy. Fortune.
[2] Jean-Marc Jancovici (Aug. 2005). How Much of a Slave Master Am I? Manicore.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
CONTRIBUTORS: CLÉMENT GASQUE, RAPHAEL RUBBENS, MACHA SAVYKINE
INSTALLATION, SERIES OF 5 STANDARD WEIGHTS, POSTER, 3D VIDEO
PRODUCTION: iMAL (BE) | COPRODUCTION: Biennale Chroniques (FR) | WITH SUPPORT FROM: Production Intérieure Brute Tours (FR)
SOLAR SHARE (THE STORY), 2020
The energy requirements for any lifestyle can be calculated as a number of “energy slaves” equivalent to the number of human labourers which otherwise would be needed to produce the same amount of energy. In 2013, it has been estimated that the average European employs the equivalent of 400-500 “energy slaves” 24 hours a day [2].
The Energy Slave Token consists of a series of weights made of bitumen, which are the energy equivalents to specific quantities of physical human labour time (ie. 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, 1 life). This series of weights is designed to present the orders of magnitude that separate the labor power generated by our human bodies from the energy exploited mostly from fossil fuels which powers the technosphere. These open source tokens are designed to be easily replicated, used and distributed without restriction.
[1] Richard Buckminster Fuller (Feb. 1940). World Energy. Fortune.
[2] Jean-Marc Jancovici (Aug. 2005). How Much of a Slave Master Am I? Manicore.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
CONTRIBUTORS: CLÉMENT GASQUE, RAPHAEL RUBBENS, MACHA SAVYKINE
INSTALLATION, SERIES OF 5 STANDARD WEIGHTS, POSTER, 3D VIDEO
PRODUCTION: iMAL (BE) | COPRODUCTION: Biennale Chroniques (FR) | WITH SUPPORT FROM: Production Intérieure Brute Tours (FR)
SOLAR SHARE (THE STORY), 2020
High on fossil fuels, modernity managed to normalize the ideology according to which humankind could detach itself from the constraints and material limitations of planetary life. These constraints become harder to ignore, as the planet’s holding capacity begins to falter, and its resources run dry.
How are we to reconnect with the physical, material and living reality of the world on which we depend entirely? Even today, the prevailing economic models still seem to ignore the extent to which necessary circulation of matter and energy depends on crucial physical processes for the regeneration of the biosphere or for human societies.
The artistic research project Solar Share envisions the radical consequences of an economic model reconnected to the elementary sources of energy coming from the Sun, the Earth and the cosmos. It aims to revise the prevailing narratives with an acknowledgement of the material conditions required for the persistence of our form of life in the biosphere. It proposes futuristic visions of new relationalities between humans, life and the Earth system. The computational and diagrammatic models that have emerged from this artistic research aim to engage a broad public with vital information from science. By externalizing, in artistic and aesthetic forms, the energy systems that govern the planet’s metabolism, these models are intended to supplement critical discussion of our prospects on this planet, both in specialized spheres and in the general public, with an emphasis on the unquantifiable and missing data which lurks behind and threatens to undermine scientific, political and economic confidence.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
WEB DEVELOPER: JÉRÔME SAINT-CLAIR
INSTALLATION, DIGITAL VIDEO WITH SOUND
SPECIAL THANKS TO OLIVIER LE CORRE AND LAURENT TRUFFET (ÉCOLE DES MINES DE NANTES).
PRODUCTION: iMAL (BE) | COPRODUCTION: Biennale Chroniques (FR)
SOLAR SHARE (THE FARM), 2020
How are we to reconnect with the physical, material and living reality of the world on which we depend entirely? Even today, the prevailing economic models still seem to ignore the extent to which necessary circulation of matter and energy depends on crucial physical processes for the regeneration of the biosphere or for human societies.
The artistic research project Solar Share envisions the radical consequences of an economic model reconnected to the elementary sources of energy coming from the Sun, the Earth and the cosmos. It aims to revise the prevailing narratives with an acknowledgement of the material conditions required for the persistence of our form of life in the biosphere. It proposes futuristic visions of new relationalities between humans, life and the Earth system. The computational and diagrammatic models that have emerged from this artistic research aim to engage a broad public with vital information from science. By externalizing, in artistic and aesthetic forms, the energy systems that govern the planet’s metabolism, these models are intended to supplement critical discussion of our prospects on this planet, both in specialized spheres and in the general public, with an emphasis on the unquantifiable and missing data which lurks behind and threatens to undermine scientific, political and economic confidence.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
WEB DEVELOPER: JÉRÔME SAINT-CLAIR
INSTALLATION, DIGITAL VIDEO WITH SOUND
SPECIAL THANKS TO OLIVIER LE CORRE AND LAURENT TRUFFET (ÉCOLE DES MINES DE NANTES).
PRODUCTION: iMAL (BE) | COPRODUCTION: Biennale Chroniques (FR)
SOLAR SHARE (THE FARM), 2020
“Vertical farms in cities can produce — profitably — hydroponically grown leafy greens, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and herbs, all with far less water than conventional agriculture requires. But the produce contains merely a trace of carbohydrates and hardly any protein or fat. So they cannot feed cities, especially not megacities of more than 10 million people. For that we need vast areas of cropland planted with grains, legumes, and root, sugar, and oil crops, the produce of which is to be eaten directly or fed to animals that produce meat, milk, and eggs. The world now plants such crops in 16 million square kilometres — nearly the size of South America — and more than half of the human population now lives in cities. [...] Vertical farms can’t substitute for much farmland, and the claims made for them have been exaggerated. ” [1]
Solar Share (The Farm) seeks to demonstrate a fundamental and paradoxical challenge to the proposal from agro-industries (and preppers alike) to provide for the nutritional needs of large urban populations in times of climate uncertainties, through grow houses and other artificially controlled environments. This 1 square meter exper- iment makes manifest the vast technical infrastructure and energy flows required to grow such staple as wheat in an artificial environment. In today’s economy it is profit- able to artificially produce agricultural products with high water content such as leafy greens and tomatoes.
However, from a systemic understanding, this apparent profitability depends on the availability of cheap fossil energy, unaccounted for resource extraction and pollution all over the globe, incurred in subordinate processes from mining and electronics manu- facture, to international freight. The present experiment seeks to reveal the numerous layers of invisibilised interdependencies, and to provide a speculative reference reck- oning of the incalculable ecosystem services at play in conventional agriculture.
[1] Vaclav Smil (June 2018). IEEE-Spectrum.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
WEB DEVELOPER: JÉRÔME SAINT-CLAIR
HARDWARE DEVELOPERS: VIVIEN ROUSSEL, THOMAS DEMMER
INSTALLATION, 1M2 OF AUTOMATED CULTIVATION, LED GROW LIGHTS, CAMERA, LIVE VIDEO STREAMING
SPECIAL THANKS TO OLIVIER LE CORRE AND LAURENT TRUFFET (ÉCOLE DES MINES DE NANTES).
SOLAR SHARE (THE COINS), 2020
Solar Share (The Farm) seeks to demonstrate a fundamental and paradoxical challenge to the proposal from agro-industries (and preppers alike) to provide for the nutritional needs of large urban populations in times of climate uncertainties, through grow houses and other artificially controlled environments. This 1 square meter exper- iment makes manifest the vast technical infrastructure and energy flows required to grow such staple as wheat in an artificial environment. In today’s economy it is profit- able to artificially produce agricultural products with high water content such as leafy greens and tomatoes.
However, from a systemic understanding, this apparent profitability depends on the availability of cheap fossil energy, unaccounted for resource extraction and pollution all over the globe, incurred in subordinate processes from mining and electronics manu- facture, to international freight. The present experiment seeks to reveal the numerous layers of invisibilised interdependencies, and to provide a speculative reference reck- oning of the incalculable ecosystem services at play in conventional agriculture.
[1] Vaclav Smil (June 2018). IEEE-Spectrum.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
WEB DEVELOPER: JÉRÔME SAINT-CLAIR
HARDWARE DEVELOPERS: VIVIEN ROUSSEL, THOMAS DEMMER
INSTALLATION, 1M2 OF AUTOMATED CULTIVATION, LED GROW LIGHTS, CAMERA, LIVE VIDEO STREAMING
SPECIAL THANKS TO OLIVIER LE CORRE AND LAURENT TRUFFET (ÉCOLE DES MINES DE NANTES).
SOLAR SHARE (THE COINS), 2020
The controversial concept of Emergy [1] attempts a comprehensive accounting of the energy stocks and flows involved in the reproduction of life, and thus of human activities on the planet. Emergy allows for factors such as extremely slow and vast processes to be acknowledged as vital contributions to life, one we can no longer take for granted in an age of accelerating technological advance. Solar energy emerges as central in Emergy modelling, responsible for most of the sources of energy we rely upon today, including wind, tides and, especially, fossil fuels.
Some areas of the world get more sunlight than others, some “use” more sunlight than others. In Europe we are able to use considerably more energy than we receive from the sky through imports in various concentrated forms, principally petroleum, coal and natural gas. Brussels is one of the 5 least sunny cities in Europe, receiving only 3 kWh/m2 on an average day, and only 1000 kWh/m2 a year [2], yet Brussels’ energy consumption is comparable to most European cities.
Solar Share coins are made of PET plastic, a petroleum bi-product, ancient sunlight concentrated in organic material over millions of years. A few grams of PET has the same embodied energy as 1m2 of yearly solar irradiation in Brussels.
How might our understanding of economics change if the instruments we used for money had an equivalent value to the solar energy required to materially produce them? As a speculative response, each Solar Share coin embodies the average solar irradiation received at a specific urban location.
[1] The Emergy methodology is based on the theory by Howard T. Odum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergy
[2] Solargis, Global Horizontal Irradiation. https://solargis.com/maps-and-gis-data
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
WEB DEVELOPER: JÉROME SAINT-CLAIR
INSTALLATION, PLEXIGLASS FRAMES, COINS MADE OF PLASTIC WASTE, (PRECIOUS PLASTIC, PET)
SPECIAL THANKS TO: OLIVIER LE CORRE AND LAURENT TRUFFET (ÉCOLE DES MINES DE NANTES).
DISNOVATION.ORG [FR/PL/DE] is an artist led action-research collective founded in 2012 in Paris by Nicolas Maigret & Maria Roszkowska. WEBSITE
BARUCH GOTTLIEB [CA/DE] is an artist, researcher and curator. He currently teaches Philosophy of Digital Art at the Berlin University of the Arts and Data Epistemology at the Technical University of Brandenburg. He is a member of the artist collectives Telekommunisten and Arts & Economic Group. He is the author of A Political Economy of the Smallest Things (ATROPOS 2016) and Digital Materialism (Emerald 2018). WEBSITE
CLÉMENCE SEURAT [FR] is a curator and editor, she investigates the fields of reflection and action related to political ecology. She was a member of the Speap art and politics experimentation program. She co-founded the COYOTE collective and the 369 publishing house. Within the Sciences Po Medialab, she designs programs and edits content for FORCCAST. WEBSITE
JULIEN MAUDET [FR] designs board games as a tool for social interaction. He creates political and satirical entertainment devices based on recent political and social events. WEBSITE
PAULINE BRIAND [FR] is a journalist and a writer interested in the livings. For Billebaude, Usbek and Rica or the National Museum of Natural History, she wrote about myxomatosis, the forests and climate change, the disappearance of insects, bears, the evolution of life, and anthropology beyond the human. She is involved in several research programs at the crossroad between journalism, art and earth policies. WEBSITE
Contact and press inquiries: Email: contact[at]disnovation.net
3 BIS F, Aix-en-Provence, 2020 [FR]
Science Gallery, Detroit, 2020 [US]
Press Kit & HD Images: Flickr
Production: iMAL Brussels (BE) | Coproduction:Biennale Chroniques, Aix-en-Provence (FR) | With The Support Of: Production Intérieure Brute Tours (FR), ArTeC Paris (FR), Le Labomedia Orléans, (FR) CNC (Dicréam)(FR), University of California Irvine (USA)
Some areas of the world get more sunlight than others, some “use” more sunlight than others. In Europe we are able to use considerably more energy than we receive from the sky through imports in various concentrated forms, principally petroleum, coal and natural gas. Brussels is one of the 5 least sunny cities in Europe, receiving only 3 kWh/m2 on an average day, and only 1000 kWh/m2 a year [2], yet Brussels’ energy consumption is comparable to most European cities.
Solar Share coins are made of PET plastic, a petroleum bi-product, ancient sunlight concentrated in organic material over millions of years. A few grams of PET has the same embodied energy as 1m2 of yearly solar irradiation in Brussels.
How might our understanding of economics change if the instruments we used for money had an equivalent value to the solar energy required to materially produce them? As a speculative response, each Solar Share coin embodies the average solar irradiation received at a specific urban location.
[1] The Emergy methodology is based on the theory by Howard T. Odum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergy
[2] Solargis, Global Horizontal Irradiation. https://solargis.com/maps-and-gis-data
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG, BARUCH GOTTLIEB
WEB DEVELOPER: JÉROME SAINT-CLAIR
INSTALLATION, PLEXIGLASS FRAMES, COINS MADE OF PLASTIC WASTE, (PRECIOUS PLASTIC, PET)
SPECIAL THANKS TO: OLIVIER LE CORRE AND LAURENT TRUFFET (ÉCOLE DES MINES DE NANTES).
DISNOVATION.ORG [FR/PL/DE] is an artist led action-research collective founded in 2012 in Paris by Nicolas Maigret & Maria Roszkowska. WEBSITE
BARUCH GOTTLIEB [CA/DE] is an artist, researcher and curator. He currently teaches Philosophy of Digital Art at the Berlin University of the Arts and Data Epistemology at the Technical University of Brandenburg. He is a member of the artist collectives Telekommunisten and Arts & Economic Group. He is the author of A Political Economy of the Smallest Things (ATROPOS 2016) and Digital Materialism (Emerald 2018). WEBSITE
CLÉMENCE SEURAT [FR] is a curator and editor, she investigates the fields of reflection and action related to political ecology. She was a member of the Speap art and politics experimentation program. She co-founded the COYOTE collective and the 369 publishing house. Within the Sciences Po Medialab, she designs programs and edits content for FORCCAST. WEBSITE
JULIEN MAUDET [FR] designs board games as a tool for social interaction. He creates political and satirical entertainment devices based on recent political and social events. WEBSITE
PAULINE BRIAND [FR] is a journalist and a writer interested in the livings. For Billebaude, Usbek and Rica or the National Museum of Natural History, she wrote about myxomatosis, the forests and climate change, the disappearance of insects, bears, the evolution of life, and anthropology beyond the human. She is involved in several research programs at the crossroad between journalism, art and earth policies. WEBSITE
Contact and press inquiries: Email: contact[at]disnovation.net
Exhibited at:
iMAL, Brussels, 2020 [BE] 3 BIS F, Aix-en-Provence, 2020 [FR]
Science Gallery, Detroit, 2020 [US]
Press Kit & HD Images: Flickr
Production: iMAL Brussels (BE) | Coproduction:Biennale Chroniques, Aix-en-Provence (FR) | With The Support Of: Production Intérieure Brute Tours (FR), ArTeC Paris (FR), Le Labomedia Orléans, (FR) CNC (Dicréam)(FR), University of California Irvine (USA)