World of Matter

Edited by Inke Arns, Sternberg Publishers, Spring 2015
190 pages, color

World of Matter is an international project investigating raw materials and the complex ecologies of which they are a part. In light of the acute problems resulting from human-induced transformation of the earth and its systems, it is tempting to strike a dramatic tone. However, the perspective of crisis also calls upon us to reconsider–at a fundamental level, and in slow, subtle, and unspectacular ways–how we understand and interact with the world of things. The investigations presented in this book, undertaken in many world regions and post-national spaces, propose a wide range of aesthetic and ethical approaches to the handling of resources, while challenging the capitalistic assumption that the planet’s materials are primarily for human consumption. By drawing connections between works that derive from artistic practice, journalism, philosophy, activism, and other realms of research, World of Matter provides a place of commonality for eco-logical imaginaries.