Carbon echoes and the climate emergency

In this presentation, artist Kat Austen will discuss her diverse methods for artistic engagement with the environment. Austen creates multimedia works that develop the aesthetics of sustainability, using methods including DIY science, acoustic ecologies, site specific performance and new material studies. In the context of the climate crisis, Austen will discuss ‘Stranger to the Trees’, a multimedia artwork that focuses on microplastics, themselves products of fossil fuel-intensive industrial processes, and their coexistence with trees in forests as carbon sinks. This ‘Land is not Mine’ looks at the post-extractive landscape of Lusatia as the region transitions from brown coal mining towards sustainability. Touching on these and other works, Austen will discuss artistic approaches to questions of anthropogenic impact and emotional responses to contemporary environmental realities.