A Forest of Images

Presentation of a research project as part of the "Jeudis de la Maison Suger", a residents' research seminar.

This session will welcome Barbara Szaniecki for a presentation reflecting on the challenges of the Anthropocene and global warming. She will demonstrate how, beyond technical solutions, design and imagery can open up new imaginaries and inspire novel forms of transition.

Presentation of the project

"Anthropocene. Global warming. In response to this reality, governments and institutions are seeking solutions to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere. At the same time, grassroots initiatives advocating alternative ways of living in cities and beyond are multiplying. Many movements also express their concerns at global or local events. Younger generations seem to aspire to much more than a mere reduction of CO2 emissions; they are seeking a genuine transition and a reorientation of the planet. While technical solutions are indispensable, they are not enough to stimulate the imagination and mobilisation necessary for this transition and reorientation of the Earth.

On the one hand, some images aestheticise the Anthropocene and its effects, and in such cases, the use of technological resources can, indirectly and unconsciously, encourage devastation. On the other hand, some political actions and manifestations expressed through images fail to propose pathways capable of adequately addressing the challenges facing cities and forests. Critique of the ‘Anthropocene’ resulting from harmful human actions is important, and it is necessary to find reparative solutions. However, technical solutions alone are insufficient to mobilise citizens or public authorities; this is why we will seek to emphasise not only design but also images, for their capacity to open up new imaginaries. Through this research, we propose a design–image approach from which new imaginaries and other forms of design may emerge."

Speakers

• Barbara Szaniecki is a professor at the School of Industrial Design at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. She holds a degree in Visual Communication from ENSAD (1994), a Master’s (2005) and a PhD (2010) in Design from the Pontifical Catholic University. With extensive practical experience in graphic design, her research focuses on the links between design and concepts in the political field such as multitude, power, representation, and manifestation. She conducted postdoctoral research titled Digital Technologies and Authenticity: The Status of the Photographic Image in Contemporary Visual Language (Esdi/UERJ) and Terrestrial, Territories and Terraforming: Images for the Resurgence of the E(arth) (Art, Design and Society Platform, EnsadLab, Paris, 2023–2024).
   
• Discussant: Giuseppe Cocco holds a PhD in Social History from the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1993). He is currently a full professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, member of the Graduate Programme of the School of Communication and the Information Science Programme (Ibict), CNPq Researcher Level 1, and CNE at Faperj. He is Editor of the journals Lugar Comum (Rio de Janeiro) and Multitudes (Paris). He has co-authored with Antonio Negri GlobAL: Biopower and Struggles in a Globalised Latin America (Record: 2005), and with Bruno Cava New Neoliberalism and the Other. Biopower, Anthropophagy and Living Money (Lexington, 2018).