We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills (2022)
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills considers recent climate-engineering proposals through the lens of alchemy. These prints borrow cloudscapes from 16th Century engraver/alchemist Hendrick Goltzius’ Metamorphoses, which depict atmosphere as solid and material, rather than a non-space; a vital concept in an age of rapidly rising atmospheric carbon levels. But here, the gods are replaced by geoengineering schemes - proposals to wash away the sins of the Anthropocene.
Silkscreened over these etchings are materials such as crude oil, sulfuric acid, iron sulfate, olivine, sea salt, silica, and pyrite, which might play a role in future geoengineering technologies. Over the coming years, these images depicting congressional documents and volcanic eruptions will become increasingly visible, as the urgency to deploy these radical climate “solutions” intensifies.
The technologies illustrated in these prints include speculative proposals such as a massive planetary sunshade, artificial icebergs formed by desalinating and re-freezing arctic waters, or the injection of reflective sulfur particles into the stratosphere, alongside more immediate concerns, such as an unsanctioned 2012 experiment near the coast of British Columbia, where 100 tons of iron sulfate were dumped into the Pacific Ocean.
Etched into their plexiglas frames, and casting shadows onto the wall are descriptive technical texts written in Esperanto, pointing to the need for a new global governance structure for the coming era of global climate modification, when the key question might center on who has the right to experiment with the environment, when the burden of responsibility and the burden of impact are asymmetrical.
Image: Installation view: We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills, Galleria Ratamo, Jyväskylä, Finland.
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills was produced at Frans Masereel Centrum, through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills: Planetary Sunshade, etching, silkscreen (printed with crude oil and pyrite), embossing, 22”x15”, 2022.
Detail: Text printed in crude oil includes excerpts from U.S. government studies on geoengineering and climate modification over the past 50 years:
Reflecting Sunlight: Recommendations for Solar Geoengineering Research and Research Governance: The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021.
Geoengineering: Parts I, II, III: Hearing Before the Committee on Science and Technology, House of Representatives, 111th Congress, Nov. 2009, Feb. 2010, Mar. 2010.
Weather Modification: Programs, Problems, Policy, and Potential: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, 95th Congress, May 1978.
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills: Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, etching, silkscreen (printed with sulfuric acid and limestone), laser engraving, 22”x15”, 2022.
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills: Marine Cloud Brightening , etching, silkscreen (printed with sea salt), embossing, 22”x15”, 2022.
Detail: We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills: Marine Cloud Brightening, etching and silkscreen (printed with sea salt) on paper, 2022.
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills: Direct Air Carbon Capture, etching, silkscreen (printed with crude oil and olivine), embossing, 22”x15”, 2022.
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills: Arctic Ice Restoration, etching, silkscreen (printed with silica, crude oil, and sea salt), embossing, 22”x15”, 2022.
We will find salvation in strategic chemical spills: Iron Fertilization, etching, silkscreen (printed with iron sulfate, ferric chloride, olivine and rust from gold-rush artifacts), laser engraving, 22”x15”, 2022.