Speculative Ecology: The Challenge of Aesthetics in an Era of Fundamentalism is a new essay by philosopher Claire Colebrook, and the first volume in Outbound: Essays in Circulation, an annual series from Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) and Perimeter Editions.
About This Book
Colebrook treats ecology not as settled ground but as an open, speculative question. She tests the assumption that nature, environment and humanity are self-evident foundations on which to build a politics or an ethics, and sets her argument against the ecological and political fundamentalisms of the present. Her case is for worlds in which identities, environments and futures remain open to change. Written in dialogue with MUMA's exhibition Syncretic Wilds: Phasmahammer and Natasha Tontey, the essay inaugurates a series that begins with an exhibition and carries its questions outward—beyond the interpretive role of the catalogue and into wider debate.
Key Features
- A single, sustained essay by one of Australia's leading cultural theorists
- Volume one of Outbound: Essays in Circulation, MUMA's new annual series of ideas-led texts
- Produced in dialogue with the exhibition Syncretic Wilds: Phasmahammer and Natasha Tontey
- Grounded in the perspectives and conditions of Australia and the Asia-Pacific
What You'll Discover
- Why nature and humanity may be weaker foundations for politics and ethics than they appear
- A critique of contemporary ecological and political fundamentalism
- The role of aesthetics in keeping environments and futures open
- How a museum's exhibition program can generate new thinking rather than simply document it
About the Author
Claire Colebrook holds the Cecile Parrish Memorial Chair of English Literature at Monash University. She has written widely on contemporary European philosophy, literary theory, visual culture, and gender, queer and feminist theory; her recent books include Who Would You Kill to Save the World?
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Dimensions: 129 × 198 mm
- Pages: 104
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781922545732
- Publisher: Perimeter Editions and Monash University Museum of Art
Perfect For: Readers of critical theory and environmental philosophy, and designers and artists questioning how ecology is invoked in contemporary practice.