This semester we will travel to the exploratory lithium tunnel in the Koralm mountain range in Carinthia, Austria, unfolding refractions of lithium logistics across continents. Starting with this tunnel, we will investigate how lithium is entangled in relations that produce economic growth and growing inequality; how greening energy and environmental destruction go hand in hand. In relation to this site, we will explore notions that counter the treatment of nature as raw material, through what Andreas Malm (2018) describes as a people’s history of the wilderness. Following Malm, we will work on narratives of marronage and ‘partisan nature’ that oppose the current rampant eco-fascism. Learning with the Charging Myths exhibition by the transnational artist collective On-Trade-Off, we will explore how technological innovation is dependent on natural resources and zoom into the global trail of lithium. The artists focus on a “counterbalance to the economic logic of extraction and exploitation. Alongside the critical outlook, they also showcase the magic of energy and electricity, the resilience of man and land, and the belief in a new sun.”
Excursion Amsterdam:
Tue 2 May - Fri 5 May 2023
Within the course and during the excursion we will engage with the following people and organisations:
FieldArts (Jeff Diamanti and Fred Carter) https://www.fieldarts.net/
Muzej/Museum Peršmanhof, Železna Kapla/Bad Eisenkappel
Charging Myths exhibition by On-Trade-Off, at Framer Framed, Amsterdam
Cassandra Troyan, theorist, poet and artist
Cristobál Bonelli, Worlds of Lithium
Boštjan Videmšek, investigative journalist