Object­ive: Earth

Has our planet become an object of design? In the face of geoen­gin­eer­ing, cloud seed­ing, and ambi­tious plans to control the plan­et’s ecosys­tems, the ques­tion seems justi­fied.

Designed along­side the exhib­i­tion as a free item, this book traces the gradual objec­ti­fic­a­tion of the Earth and crit­ic­ally exam­ines its effects on our planet. It opens with a gloss­ary of 20 key concepts in techno-scientific think­ing, before invit­ing socially commit­ted artists and design­ers to explore their approaches in greater depth in their texts. Although they use tech­no­logy, they take a crit­ical look at the systemic disrup­tions we are facing. Finally, 3 essays by research­ers provide a multidiscip­lin­ary perspect­ive: tech­no­logy histor­ian Sabine Holler frames this posi­tion in a recent, yet note­worthy history of the concept of “Space­ship Earth”, while design curator Scott Long­fel­low considers it within the context of total design, and philo­sopher Frédéric Neyrat invites read­ers to become aware of that which cannot be appre­hen­ded and in doing so, scours the depths of the earth.