Ocean Acidification as a Hyperobject: Mediating Acidic Milieus in the Anthropocene

Authors

  • Oriol Batalla University of Barcelona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2023.14.1.4326

Keywords:

Anthropocene, hyperobjects, ocean acidification, new materialism, environmental humanities

Abstract

Through the usage of Timothy Morton’s hyperobjects (2013) as a heuristic, this essay aims to portray how Ocean Acidification can be read as a hyperobject affecting tropical seawaters and beyond. Furthermore, it illustrates how the arts and humanities, through their hermeneutical gaze, might help us grasp Ocean Acidification as a hyperobject and the wide array of other objects that act upon each other in such acidic oceanic waters. In this task, the article will close-read the Underwater Woman set of pictures by Christine Ren (2018) understanding the interpretation of art as a tool to reconnect cognition and emotion to move from the understanding of a crisis to the feeling of such crisis. Finally, it aims to shed light upon the implications arising from considering Ocean Acidification as a hyperobject. By connecting the theoretical, visual and political in the same narrative, this essay highlights the transformative potential of interpretation and thinking through hyperobjects. With this, the challenges of the Anthropocene are put at the forefront, situating specific events and problematics in a planetary scale.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Oriol Batalla, University of Barcelona

Oriol Batalla is PhD fellow on Social and Cultural Theory at the University of Barcelona. His dissertation is carried out at the Center for the Study of Culture, Politics and Society (CECUPS). His research focuses on the Environmental Humanities, Critical Social Theory, Political Philosophy, Extinction Studies and Cultural Analysis. His work has appeared in edited books by Columbia University Press, Active Distribution and journals such as Indialogs, Matter or CES e-cadernos

Downloads

Published

2023-04-28

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2023): Gardening (against) the Anthropocene

Section

Articles: General Section

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal (CC BY-NC for articles and CC BY-NC-ND for creative work, unless author requests otherwise.

b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).