GMU:Re-enchanting the field/The geo-history of oil shale in Estonia

The geo-history of oil shale in Estonia

Zoom Link: https://dieangewandte-at.zoom.us/j/65584240536

Guest Lecture: Riho Mötlep, Institute for Geology and Earth Science, University of Tartu

Topics: What is oil shale? Topography of extraction Waste/Environmental impact

Methodological Briefing: Mindaugas Gapševičius & Felix Bonowski, Bauhaus University Weimar

Topics: acoustic ecology, chromatography, listening exercises; Instructions for Group Work (3- 5 people)

Homework: Idea paper (1 page). What relational dynamics / transformations do you want to explore?

Key Steps (in preparation of field week)

▪       Select an object, organism, specimen, people or places to study

▪       Conduct preparatory research on de/re-composition of elemental flows they embody and to what effect

▪       Summarize your research interest/planned experiment in your research Diary on your personal wiki page

• 5+ sentences background info,
• 10+ sentences description: main object/focus of fieldwork, research question, anticipated outcomes
• 5+ technical description: tools, method, process
• 5+ references

Due: by April 30^th 2025 noon

Recommended Readings:

• Ulrike Gerhart & Julia Wolf, 2024 Troubled Matter—Thinking with Sedimented Histories

Examples Fieldprojects

• Larisa Crunțeanu/Sonja Hornung: “to slip, to slide, to glitch: Navigating Uneasy Landscapes.” In: INSERT. Artistic Practices as Cultural Inquiries, Issue 6, Troubled Matter—Thinking with Sedimented Histories, 2024, URL: https://insert.art/ausgaben/troubled-matter/to-slip-to-slide-to-glitch/, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14030438.
• Ingrid Halland: “The Surface-Process Paradox: On Chemistry, Extraction, and Aesthetics.” In: INSERT. Artistic Practices as Cultural Inquiries, Issue 6, Troubled Matter—Thinking with Sedimented Histories, 2024, URL: https://insert.art/ausgaben/troubled-matter/the-surface-process-paradox/, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14030656.
• Mareike Bernien/Alex Gerbaulet: „Sonne Unter Tage – Fragmente gesammelt auf den Halden unserer zusammengetragenen Geschichten“. In: INSERT. Artistic Practices as Cultural Inquiries, Ausgabe 6, Troubled Matter – Denken mit sedimentierten Geschichten, 2024, URL: https://insert.art/ausgaben/troubled-matter/sonne-unter-tage/, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14030408.

NOTE: This project is only interesting for the way they work with radiation as a photographic device, not for the concept note of the project. Using x-ray film for capturing the afterlife of uranium extraction is interesting. It allowed to visualize the recalibration of elemental flows in contaminated soils that would otherwise be imperceptible.