Ecologies of Death: Environment, Body and Ethics in Contemporary Art

In the contemporary context of the ecological crisis, the degradation of natural resources renders certain habitats unliveable and leads to the death of individual organisms, populations and species extinction.
While bioscience emphasises interdependency as a key characteristics of life shared by all organisms, Western cultural imaginaries tend to draw a thick dividing line between the human and nonhuman others, particularly evident in our approaches to death. Simultaneously, human/nonhuman relationality and the destruction of life on
Earth, form some of the major concerns in contemporary art practices and emerging philosophies of extinction.
The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to examine how contemporary art explores the relations between human and environment in the context of death and extinction. This is done through visual, textual, conceptual and discourse analyses of artworks, theoretical texts and scientific reports. By bringing into dialogue five key areas of enquiry – art, environmental humanities, feminist theory, death studies, and science – the project investigates art’s approach to the materiality and processuality of death and its potential for mobilising a more nuanced ethics of death that could account for the irreducible and multiplex character of human/nonhuman ecologies, especially needed in the context of the current environmental crisis.

The project is funded by The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).

Date: 1 July 2017 – 30 June 2020

Publications:

Articles:

• MacCormack, P., M. Radomska, N. Lykke, I. Hillerup-Hansen, P. R. Olson, N. Manganas. 2021. What do we talk about when we talk about queer death? Theories and definitions. Whatever: Transdisciplinary Journal of Queer Theory and Studies, vol. 4: 573-598. https://doi.org/10.13131/2611-657X.whatever.v4i1.147
• Radomska, M., T. Mehrabi, and N. Lykke. 2020. Queer Death Studies: Death, Dying and Mourning From a Queerfeminist Perspective. Australian Feminist Studies 35(104), pp. 81-100 https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2020.1811952 [OPEN ACCESS]
• Radomska, M. 2020. Deterritorialising Death: Queerfeminist Biophilosophy and Ecologies of the Non/Living in Contemporary Art. Australian Feminist Studies 35(104), pp. 116-137 https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2020.1802697 [OPEN ACCESS]
• Radomska, M. and C. Åsberg. 2020. Elämästä luopuminen: Biofilosofiasta, epä/elämisestä, toksisesta ruumiillistumisesta ja etiikan uudelleenmuotoilusta. Niin & näin [Finnish philosophical magazine] 1/2020, pp. 39-46.
• Radomska, M., T. Mehrabi, and N. Lykke. 2019. Queer Death Studies: Coming to Terms with Death, Dying and Mourning Differently. An Introduction. Women, Gender & Research 3-4/2019, pp. 3-11.
• Radomska, M., 2018. Promises of Non/Living Monsters and Uncontainable Life. Somatechnics, 8(2), pp. 215-231.[self-archived copy]
• Radomska, M., 2017. Non/living Matter, Bioscientific Imaginaries and Feminist Techno-ecologies of Bioart. Australian Feminist Studies, 32(94), pp. 377-394. [OPEN ACCESS]

Research review:

• Radomska, M. 2019. Posthuman Ecologies of the Corpse. Women, Gender & Research, 3-4/2019, pp. 86-88.
• Radomska, M., 2017. The Anthropocene, practices of story-telling and multispecies justice. Angelaki, 22 (2), 257-261

Edited volumes:

• Radomska, M., T. Mehrabi and N. Lykke (eds.), 2020. Australian Feminist Studies, special issue: ‘Queer Death Studies: Death, Dying and Mourning From a Queerfeminist Perspective’ 35(104).
• Radomska, M., T. Mehrabi and N. Lykke (eds.). 2019.  Women, Gender & Research, special issue: ‘Queer Death Studies: Coming to Terms with Death with Death, Dying and Mourning Differently’. 3-4/2019.

Chapters:

• Radomska, M. 2020. “Viral Queerings, Amplified Vulnerabilities”. In Rehearsing Hospitalities Companion 2, edited by Yvonne Billimore and Jussi Koitela, Helsinki: Archive Books, pp. 155-172.
• Radomska, M. and C. Åsberg, 2020. “Doing Away with Life: On Biophilosophy, the Non/Living, Toxic Embodiment, and Reimagining Ethics.” In: Berger, K. Mäki-Reinikka, K. O’Reilly & H. Sederholm, eds. Art As We Don’t Know It. Helsinki: Aalto ARTS Books, pp. 54-63. [peer-reviewed]
• Radomska, M. 2019. “Non/Living Matter, Bioscientific Imaginaries and Feminist Technoecologies of Bioart.” In: D. Lorenz-Meyer, P. Treusch and X. Liu, Feminist Technoecologies: Reimagining Matters of Care and Sustainability. London: Routledge. [peer-reviewed]
• Radomska, M., 2018. “On Bioart, Biophilosophy and Re-Imagining Futures.” In This Mess We’re In curated by Tarsh Bates. Exhibition catalogue. Perth: UWA.