They are breathing: living rocks and multispecies consensus

Perdita Phillips

For some time I have been grappling with how to use geological metaphors to make connections between people, ecosystems and physical processes, that might help unravel some of the more intractable ecological issues that surround us. Cultural theorist Astrida Neimanis and I wrote about the both/and condition as an aesthetic that holds on “to more than one possibility, more than one scale or perspective, more than one experience, more than one response or solution, at the same time” (Neimanis and Phillips, 2019, p. 136). The current state of affairs asks for critical hope in a time of uncertainty — this is not easy — and I live in a State (Western Australia) that is bound up with mineral extraction. I propose an outdoor zoom session from Lake Richmond where there are living microbialites, which was previously researched as part of The Sixth Shore spatial sound project In August 2023 I will be holding public walks and listening events there as part of a slow art making event. For this presentation the sounds of Lake Richmond will be combined with discussion of the ecological pasts, presents and futures.