december 5, 2019 — JANUARY 26, 2020

Espacio Véntalo, Barcelona

Capitaloceno explores notions of intersectional environmentalism in the context of the shifting biophysical world and the global climate injustice.

The exhibition brings together works in the fields of photography, soundscape, sculpture, and moving image, studying three ecosystems at unease: the Darien jungle, Panama border with Colombia; the geothermal field of Námafjall, Iceland; and the Caledonian Forest, Scottish Highlands.

The Anthropocene ("anthropos" and "kainos", Greek for “human being” and “new”) is the current geological epoch where "human activities" have had a significant global impact on terrestrial ecosystems. For some scientists, the Anthropocene began with the Industrial Revolution (England, 1760 - 1840), while for others, its origin lies twelve thousand years ago with the birth of agriculture. Some researchers, searching for definitive global changes in the fossil record, suggest that the period coincides with the nuclear age, while others argue that it began in 1492 with the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, hence initiating a massive rearrangement of life on Earth.

In dealing with the global climate crisis, we have been merciless in regard to such “human activities” that have greatly modified natural systems. The Anthropocene thus obviates the politisation of ecology, a path towards climate justice that would ensure policies of equality, human rights, and historical responsibility in the context of global warming. The Capitalocene, however, conceives the human being as part of a system. Also, considering power relations, the specific nature of social inequalities, and environmental transformations on a global-local scale, typical of the capitalist system.

“Capitaloceno” (Spanish for “Capitalocene”) art show intends, in this way, to interconnect three territories with different cultural perspectives, knowledge systems, and historical contexts where to sustain relationships between human and non-human beings. At a time when a change in the capitalist logic is revealed imperative for the survival of the human race itself, “Capitaloceno” advocates for a transformation of connections through sensory empathy. One of the works in the exhibition proposes a dimly lit space portraying an ecosystem at unease in a series of unfixed lumen prints along with a projection, a biosphere that reminds the audience vividly of their responsibility to protect this interconnected world.