Field Station 4 and Confluence Ecologies, 2019
Mississippi. An Anthropocene River, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale IL; Carbondale Community Arts, Carbondale Community Arts; Various sites in the Cache River region of Southern Illinois; Ferne Clyffe State Park, Goreville, IL; Shawnee National Forest, Herod, IL.
Field Station 4 and the Confluence Ecologies exhibition included several programs developed by Deep Time Chicago. The work focused on the political ecology of rural and riverine environments in the Confluence area where the Ohio and the Mississippi meet. Mixing art, science, and cultural research, and engaging with both humans and non-humans, the weekend composed a regional mosaic highlighting multiple facets of the contemporary predicament. Themes include river-basin planning, nuclear power, invasive species, alternative economies, substance dependencies, fossil forests, coal-industry legacies, floods, swamps, ancient ecosystems and speculative futures. At stake throughout the work was the urgent needs for social, cultural and technological change in an era when human populations exert tremendous powers, capable of altering the biosphere and disrupting the life-sustaining cycles of the earth system.
This undertaking was part of a larger program entitled Mississippi: An Anthropocene River, organized by the House of World Cultures (HKW) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, in collaboration with over a hundred North American artists and researchers. The program included a River Journey on voyageur canoes, stopping at five different Field Stations scattered up and down the Mississippi or along its endless tributaries. At each of these Field Stations, events were organized to greet the travelers and display the local research to the general public. At Field Station 4 in Carbondale, activities included: the opening of the Confluence Ecologies exhibition; the closing of the Seasonal Pulse exhibition at Carbondale Community Arts; a walking tour led by paleogeologists at Ferne Clyffe State Park; a panel discussion on alternative ecologies; an invasive Asian Carp feast; and a bus tour to the Cache River Valley, ending with a visit to Ft. Defiance State Park at the confluence of the two great rivers.
Contributors and organizers to Field Station 4 included all members of the collective Deep Time Chicago: Oliver Sann, Beatte Geisler, Kayla Anderson, Sara Black, Claire Pentecost, Sarah Lewison, Amber Ginsburg, Andy Yang, Brian Kirkbride, Jeremy Bolen, Jenny Kendler, Brian Holmes, Michael Swierz, Marlena Novak and Jay Yim.
Field Station 4 and Confluence Ecologies, 2019
Mississippi. An Anthropocene River, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale IL; Carbondale Community Arts, Carbondale Community Arts; Various sites in the Cache River region of Southern Illinois; Ferne Clyffe State Park, Goreville, IL; Shawnee National Forest, Herod, IL.
Field Station 4 and the Confluence Ecologies exhibition included several programs developed by Deep Time Chicago. The work focused on the political ecology of rural and riverine environments in the Confluence area where the Ohio and the Mississippi meet. Mixing art, science, and cultural research, and engaging with both humans and non-humans, the weekend composed a regional mosaic highlighting multiple facets of the contemporary predicament. Themes include river-basin planning, nuclear power, invasive species, alternative economies, substance dependencies, fossil forests, coal-industry legacies, floods, swamps, ancient ecosystems and speculative futures. At stake throughout the work was the urgent needs for social, cultural and technological change in an era when human populations exert tremendous powers, capable of altering the biosphere and disrupting the life-sustaining cycles of the earth system.
This undertaking was part of a larger program entitled Mississippi: An Anthropocene River, organized by the House of World Cultures (HKW) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, in collaboration with over a hundred North American artists and researchers. The program included a River Journey on voyageur canoes, stopping at five different Field Stations scattered up and down the Mississippi or along its endless tributaries. At each of these Field Stations, events were organized to greet the travelers and display the local research to the general public. At Field Station 4 in Carbondale, activities included: the opening of the Confluence Ecologies exhibition; the closing of the Seasonal Pulse exhibition at Carbondale Community Arts; a walking tour led by paleogeologists at Ferne Clyffe State Park; a panel discussion on alternative ecologies; an invasive Asian Carp feast; and a bus tour to the Cache River Valley, ending with a visit to Ft. Defiance State Park at the confluence of the two great rivers.
Contributors and organizers to Field Station 4 included all members of the collective Deep Time Chicago: Oliver Sann, Beatte Geisler, Kayla Anderson, Sara Black, Claire Pentecost, Sarah Lewison, Amber Ginsburg, Andy Yang, Brian Kirkbride, Jeremy Bolen, Jenny Kendler, Brian Holmes, Michael Swierz, Marlena Novak and Jay Yim.
