Against the Anthropocene / Visual Culture and Environment Today – T. J. Demos

Against the Anthropocene scrutinizes the proposal that we are in a human-driven epoch regarding climate change. In this slender but dense volume, cultural theorist T.J. Demos analyzes the biases within contemporary visual culture popular science websites, remote sensing and SatNav imagery, eco-activist mobilizations, and experimental artistic projects demonstrating that it does not merely describe a geologic period, but actively supports the neoliberal financialization of nature, anthropocentric political economy, and endorsement of geo-engineering as a preferred method of approaching climate change. To develop creative alternatives, Demos argues we need to carefully consider the underlying motives the Anthropocene thesis. T.J. Demos is Professor of Art and Visual Culture and Director of the Center for Creative Ecologies at UC Santa Cruz. Past publications with Sternberg Press include Decolonizing Nature and Return To The Postcolony.