Traces from the future. Readability and virtuality in The Anthropocene Project

Abstract

Facing the epistemic and ethical challenge presented by the difficult legibility of the processes constituting the Anthropocene, artistic operations can offer a privileged tool for understanding the human impact on the planet. Nevertheless, the "hyper-object" nature of the environmental crisis – which, according to the philosopher Timothy Morton, takes place on spatial and temporal scales impossible for humans to perceive directly and does not allow for a distance – prevents artists from providing a transparent, unmediated and hyper-readable image. This paper therefore discusses the interrelated concepts of readability, mediation and virtuality in the specific case of The Anthropocene Project, a multidisciplinary work by Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas De Pencier in which AR installations, 360° VR films and gigapixel photo essays with video extensions are combined to deliver interactive and immersive experiences in environments deeply marked by human activity. In particular, an evaluation of the ability of the media used in the project to make the Anthropocene readable is proposed precisely on the basis of renouncing a claim to immediacy: in reference above all to the AR installations and the 360° VR films, we affirm that the very lack of perfect overlapping between reality and virtuality, according to what Engberg and Bolter (2020) have defined as the "La Ciotat effect", can produce in the audience a sense of awe and responsibility.