Jessica Ullrich - Böcker

Der Band bestimmt den Begriff der Begegnung als eigene, bedeutungstragende Kategorie und fokussiert zum ersten Mal systematisch und historisch Fragen der Interaktion zwischen Menschen und Tieren in Philosophie, Kunst, Literatur und in sozio-kulturellen Praktiken. Einzelanalysen untersuchen die Formen und Funktionen der Interaktion zwischen unterschiedlichen Spezies sowie deren grundlegende Muster, die einerseits von Empathie, Achtsamkeit oder Agency gekennzeichnet sind, bzw. andererseits von Gewalt, Ausgrenzung, Widerständigkeit oder Konfrontation. Damit ergänzt die Publikation die Erforschung der Tier-Mensch-Beziehung um den zentralen Aspekt von ambivalenten Interspezies-Begegnungen, die zugleich destruktives und transformatives Potential offenbaren.

Der Band verbindet aktuelle Diskurse um nichtmenschliche oder mehr-als-menschliche Akteure in ästhetischen Prozessen mit der derzeit virulenten Debatte um „Care“ bzw. Fürsorgeethik in der Kunst. Gefragt wird nach den Bedingungen, Modi und Konsequenzen einer nichtmenschlichen Ästhetik und danach, in welcher Form Tiere, Pflanzen, Pilze, Mikroben, Bakterien, Maschinen oder künstliche Intelligenzen im Rahmen von Kunstwerken handeln. Die Beiträge beleuchten, wie Künstler*innen mit nichtmenschlichen Entitäten im Rahmen von performativen oder installativen Kunstwerken interagieren und wie sie füreinander sorgen und füreinander verantwortlich sind.

This book addresses the increasing social, scientific and, above all, artistic discussion of soil(s) in current cultural-societal contexts. The end of the „International Decade of Soils“ (2015-2024) marked a development that has focussed on the central importance of the earth for life, biodiversity and climate on our planet since the turn of the millennium. In addition to the political and scientific recognition of this, Earth as a material has increasingly become the centre of cultural and artistic debates. In these debates, the awareness of the earth as a living organism initiated in the social and natural science discourse was taken up and further deepened. Earth is thus understood as a carrier of history, culture and identity, as a distinct and genuinely self-sufficient ecosystem that is, however, existentially threatened by climate change, industrialised and unsustainable forms of agriculture, as well as extractivism. In art, soil has evolved from an aesthetic medium to a carrier of political, ecological and historical statements. Artists today thematise ecological crises, colonial violence, land grabbing, plant blindness and the close relationship between humans and the earth. New narrative, archival and installative forms are emerging in which the earth is not just a material but an actor - often in the sense of a ‘new materialism’ or ‘posthumanism’. Numerous exhibitions worldwide testify to the growing interest in the topic of soil in art. Historical pioneers such as Ana Mendieta, Agnes Denes and herman de vries have laid the foundations for today's positions. Current works often take up Indigenous perspectives, feminist approaches and ecological issues and call for a new relationship with the earth - as a living counterpart, not as an object to be exploited. With a number of essays ranging from Western philosophy to Indigenous epistemology, from historical examples to highly topical activist positions, this book aims to give a comprehensive insight into current theoretical and artistic discourses in ecological art studies. It brings together contributions from different continents that shed light on the topic of soil(s) in distinctive cultural contexts: as a ‘natural given’, political token, artistic matter, mythological bearer, and others. In this light, the eponymous term “soil” is being conceptualized in its pluralistic sense: There is no such thing as definitive and solitary soil, but it has different meanings in different geographical, political, historical and cultural contexts. Contributions by established scholars as well as junior researchers offer a range of methodological approaches: art historical essays weighing in on the aesthetic implications of earthen matter, eco-political and eco-feminist theories, material studies, and others.