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Data is the new Oil? – on the complex relations between fossil and digital modernity.

Presentation by Alexander Klose at Petrocultures 2022 conference in Stavanger.

“Data is the new oil infographic” ©Nigel Holmes 2012 / from The Human Face of Big Data

The talk tracks the relationship between the „digital age“ and petromodernity. As much as data is called the new oil today, oil has been the new data from the 1950s onwards. There may even be a homology of how these technologies tackle with and bring forward new realities, if you compare cracking–as the core petrochemical operation in which the molecules of hydrocarbon substances are torn apart and their atoms are recombined in new molecular compounds–with the way digital computers symbolize and re-organize material realities. Today, the worlds of social media and gaming are mostly keeping the petromodern promises for individual empowerment and entertainment. Fossil capitalism’s logic of extractivism has been extended both to new raw materials that are needed for the lightweight technology and to the consumers whose behavioral traces have become the “new oil”. What are the chances, what are the dangers of a media and energy transition „beyond oil“ that prolongates petromodernity?

(Oil)Platform capitalism and oil rig as wifi hub – two metaphorical takes on how data and oil economies are related

IT and industrial technology have never been separated as the story of a new digital age seems to imply. Quite the opposite, the oil industry has been one of the most important drivers of digital technology development from early on, namely for oil exploration.

The mining and development of “tough oil” reservoirs would not have been possible without computers. As much as data is called the new oil today, oil has been the new data from the 1950s onwards. 

Action in the digital sphere happens in „the cloud“ – a metaphor that evokes lightweight molecules and accumulations in thin air. As we all know, the truth looks distinctly different: the global digital technosphere is made of millions of kilometers of cables and megatons of concrete, plastics, steel and silicium.

If the internet were a country, it would range third in electricity consumption after the U.S. and China. (Research Group Digitization and Social-Ecological Transformation, Berlin 2019.)

Even if the new very large data centers run on renewable energy, the carbon footprint of digital technology as a whole has become frighteningly significant. 

While the use of these devices differs considerably, the material and technological resources that contribute to their “functionality” have a shared substrate in plastic and copper, solvents and silicon. Electronics typically are composed of more than 1000 different materials, components that form part of a materials program that is far-reaching and spans from microchip to electronic systems. (…) to produce a two-gram memory microchip, 1.3 kilograms of fossil fuels and materials are required.

(Jennifer Gabrys, Digital Rubbish. A Natural History of Electronics, Ann Arbor 2011)

Diagrammatic representation of Cracking process from petrochemistry textbook.

Cracking paradigm
The operational approach of informatics—to convey and calculate everything through discrete symbols —equals the operational approach of industrial chemistry—to rip complex materials in their smallest parts, molecules and atoms, and to recombine and optimize them.

Elements become isolated, analyzed, synthesized, and enter into circulation as deterritorialized bits of information that can be traded in complex, global ways. From soil to minerals to chemicals, their scientific framing and engineering is also a prelude to their status as commodities. (…) The periodic table is one of the most important reference points in the history of technological capitalism. The insides of computers are folded with their outsides in material ways; the abstract topologies of information are entwined with geophysical realities.

(Jussi Parikka, A Geology of Media, Minneapolis 2015)

Digital Culture keeps unfullfilled petromodern promises

Understood in this expanded sense, extraction involves not only the appropriation and expropriation of natural resources but also, and in ever more pronounced ways, processes that cut through patterns of human cooperation and social activity. The prospecting logics (…) in the case of literal extraction take on peculiar characteristics here – since they refer precisely to forms of human cooperation and social activity.

(Sandro Mezzadra/Brett Neilson, »On the multiple frontiers of extraction: excavating contemporary capitalism«, Cultural Studies 2-3, 2017)

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Beauty of Oil@Petrocultures 2022: Transformations

24. – 27. August 2022, Stavanger

Cruise Ship, Oil Museum, and Dinosaur in the Center of Stavanger. ©Alex Close

“We live in turbulent times, and the role of petroleum is at the heart of global and local political debate about how we should rebuild after COVID-19 and address our worsening crises of climate and international stability. A transition to a world without oil as its primary source of fuel and energy is vital if we are to reach the climate targets set by the Paris Agreement, but the pathway, feasibility, and timing of such an unprecedented transition is still hotly debated. We know that oil will come to an end, but whether its closing date is set by emptied reservoirs, greener alternatives, or political decisions, is still to be determined. Recognizing that the “age of oil” is being challenged, petrocultures2022 invites scholars and artists, journalists and activists, politicians and business actors to engage critically in the debate and the transition to alternatives. The conference will be held at the Norwegian Petroleum Museum and a nearby conference venue in Stavanger, the energy capital of Norway.“

description from Petrocultures-website

We spent 4 days and nights at the first physical meeting of the international Petrocultures researcher crowd since Glasgow 2018. It took place in the conference rooms of the Oljemuseum and on a historical ship, the MS Sandness, which used to commute between Bergen and Stavanger. About 300 people attended the conference. The program was packed, and often the conference rooms – among them the lovely breakfast room and second class salon on the boat – were so, too. Keynote speeches were given on thursday, friday and saturday morning at Stavangeren, a former church assembly room in the old city of Stavanger.

Find the full conference programm here.

Below is an impresssionistic collection of images from the town and the conference.

  • ©Ernst Logar
Images from Stavanger: conference, city, and oil museum.
All images by Alex Close except upper right by Ernst Logar.
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Natur und Propaganda

Lukas Bärfuss im Gespräch mit Alexander Klose, dazu Lesung von Sandra Hüller. 21.8.2023, Maschinenhaus Essen.

© Alexander Klose, Christian Hüller, Lea Meienberg

Natur ist möglicherweise schon immer ein propagandistischer Begriff, durch den die Sphäre des Menschen und der Mensch selbst ideologisch von allem nicht-Menschlichen abgesetzt und überhöht werden sollte. Mit dem neu erstarkten ökologischen Bewusstsein im Zeichen der Anthropozän-These stürzt die Behauptung der kategorischen Trennung zwischen Mensch und Natur bzw. Kultur und Natur in sich selbst zusammen. In der späten Petromoderne sind die Umwelten eines großen Teils der Menschen als “zweite Natur” ausgestaltet. Jedoch nichts, nicht einmal Beton, Plastik, Virtual Reality oder Raketentechnik, konnte jemals ganz den Boden des gegebenen Sets an Stoffen, chemischen Prozessen und physikalischen Gesetzmäßigkeiten verlassen. Wenn wir heute also nach Natur fragen, zielen wir entweder auf Dynamiken und Stofflichkeiten, die trotz der konstitutiven Trennungsbehauptung nie aufhörten, in der menschengemachten Sphäre wirksam zu sein. Oder wir adressieren die Akte der diskursiven Setzungen selbst: Was gilt wo und zu welchem Zweck als ‘Natur’?

Das “Natur und Propaganda” überschriebene Gespräch zwischen Lukas Bärfuss und Alexander Klose dreht sich um Aspekte der (petro)modernen Ausstaffierung und Durchdringung der Welt, der modernen industriellen Gesellschaften und Menschen: Stoffe und ihre Dynamiken, wie Kunstdünger oder Zement, Heilsversprechen von Technik und Politik, Sucht, Propaganda und Gegenpropaganda als Kampf um die “Wahrheit der Natur”.

Sonntag, 21.8.22, 17:00, Maschinenhaus Essen, im Rahmen der Ruhrtriennale 2022.

Die offizielle Ankündigung der von Georg Büchner-Preisträger Lukas Bärfuss konzipierten und geführten Reihe “Die Natur des Menschen” im Programm der Ruhrtriennale findet sich hier.

Das Gespräch wurde für WDR 3 Forum aufgezeichnet und ist bis 23.9.2023 unter diesem Link abrufbar.

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»Ein Rohstoff, der spaltet«, Die ZEIT, 31/2022 vom 28.7.2022, unter Mitwirkung von Beauty-of-Oil entstandener Bericht über Ölgeschichte und Fracking in Niederösterreich.

»Die Energiekrise befeuert die Diskussion um das Schiefergas. Große Vorräte werden im niederösterreichischen Weinviertel vermutet. Aber ausgerechnet hier, wo das Herz der heimischen Erdölindustrie pocht, formiert sich der Widerstand gegen das Fracking.« Ein Beitrag von Simone Brunner, entstanden mit Recherchetips von Beauty-of-Oil. Besuch in der St. Leonhardskirche in Matzen inklusive! (download des Artikels hier)

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Enter the Plastocene

Presentation by Alexander Klose at the transdisciplinary festival and symposium Wasteland, July 8, The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague.

»The chemical industry knows no waste«, claims an industry propaganda film from the GDR in 1968. Today, the whole Earth seems to have been turned into a planetary plastic waste heap. Thus, the statement sounds weird. Nevertheless, it carries some reasonability in a country and economy relying on stewardship of its scarce resources. Doesn’t that also sound familiar? A good twenty years earlier, a US propaganda film for its war-boosted chemical industry preparing to become civic again had announced that the depicted “world of the molecule belongs to us all. It is yours to explore, your new frontier.” 

GDR propaganda poster for the anti-fascist socialist chemical industry, 1960

The plastic turn had a utopian potential that actualized in different political ideologies. From a certain historical point, to be modern meant to be living in plasticized environments. But the problem with plastics, one may assume, was not caused mainly by its “supernatural” materiality, but by the social and economical organization of its distribution. Consumerism was the civil religion of the American century. Also the socialist regimes gave in to it as a means of manifesting freedom and prosperity in a modern society. That may have been one major nail in their coffin, as a communist idealist might argue. It certainly was another milestone in the advent of the plastocene.

The talk traced the course from plastic crazes in West and East to today’s global plastic waste crises and further to queer and square plastic futures.

The talk took place on the first day of the three-day-symposium Wast3D-Care, on friday july 8, at 5:30 pm. Festival and symposium Wasteland were conceptualized and organized by Yannik Güldner & Leon Lapa Pereira.

time: 
July 8, 5:30 pm

location: 
The Grey Space in the Middle 
Paviljoensgracht 20
2512 BP, The Hague
The Netherlands
Demonstrating the basics of a chemical cultural theory. Photos by Xue Mu.
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»Tagesgespräch« vom 29.6.2022 mit Benjamin Steininger auf Bayern 2 Radio und auf ARD-Alpha: »Krieg, Inflation und andere Krisen: Stellen Sie Ihren Lebensstil um?«

»Im Tagesgespräch ging es um schwierige Zeiten. Wie reagieren Sie auf die vielen Krisen und Katastrophen auf der Welt? Kann das Leben einfach unverändert so weitergehen? Moderation: Christoph Peerenboom / Gast: Benjamin Steininger, Kulturwissenschaftler am Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Berlin, Katalyseforscher bei UniSysCat an der TU Berlin«

(Sendung nachsehen: link zum Video (ca. 55 min) in der ARD-Mediathek).

(Sendung nachhören: link zum Podcast (ca 55 min) auf BR Podcast)

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»Combustion: Reading the Ashes«, seminar at HKW Berlin with Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł, Neil Rose, and Benjamin Steininger, 20.5.2022, 5 pm

In the context of the congress »Unearthing the Present« (19.5.-22.5.2022), one of the final events after ten years of Anthropocene research and debate at HKW, together with the members of the Anthropocene-Working-Group Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł (PL) and Neil Rose (UK), Benjamin Steininger will be giving the seminar »Combustion: Reading the Ashes« on Friday, 20.5.2022, 5 pm. It is part of a series of presentations on Friday.

Find more about the congress »Unearthing the Present« (19.5.2022-22.5.2022) and the Workshop series »Markers – Material Delineations of the Present« (20.5.2022, 3–9 pm) at the respective links

In English // Free admission // Limited capacity, registration is desired:

Registration_Markers@hkw.de

Microplastics in bodies of water or organisms or the accumulation of radionuclides from nuclear weapons tests – anthropogenic markers have a political, technological and ecological history behind them. Developed from the online publication Anthropogenic Markers, researchers of the Anthropocene Working Group, humanities scholars and artists provide an insight into the laboratory practice of “Anthropocene forensics.” Eight sessions examine chemical and biological fingerprints as demarcations for the new geological epoch of the Anthropocene. Registration for individual workshops is now open.

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Preview von »Petro-Melancholie. Das Erdölzeitalter im Spiegel der Kunst« Dokumentation von Mathias Frick, ARTE/ZDF 2021, 52 min, 4.5.2022, HKW Berlin

Ausstrahlung auf ARTE: Mittwoch, 22. Juni 2022, um 21:45 Uhr und auf arte.tv bis zum 22. Juli 2022


Der fossile Rohstoff Erdöl hat sich in vielen Facetten unseres Lebens manifestiert und in den letzten 150 Jahren nicht nur unsere Maschinen befeuert, sondern auch unsere Fantasien, Wünsche und Träume. Im Zeitalter der Petro-Moderne wurde Erdöl in
unseren westlichen Gesellschaften zu einem Katalysator für Wachstum und Konsum – und damit zum Sinnbild für Freiheit, Moderne und Wohlstand. Heute neigt sich dieses Zeitalter dem Ende entgegen und uns wird schmerzlich bewusst, wie abhängig
sich die moderne Gesellschaft von diesem Stoff gemacht hat.

Das HKW (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) forscht bereits seit Jahren in verschiedenen interdisziplinären Projekten zum Anthropozän, dem vom Menschen gemachten Erdzeitalter. Der Ausbeutung planetarischer Rohstoffe wie dem Erdöl kommt
hierbei eine wichtige Rolle zu.

Der Regisseur Mathias Frick hat sich gemeinsam mit den Kulturwissenschaftlern Benjamin Steininger und Alexander Klose auf die Reise zurück in die Petro-Moderne gemacht. Der Film erzählt entlang von Kunstwerken aus verschiedenen Teilen dieser Welt, wie tief unser Leben von den Kreisläufen des Erdöls durchdrungen ist. Zur ARTE-Filmpremiere im HKW laden wir Sie herzlich ein.

Vor dem Film: Einführung durch Bernd Scherer (Intendant HKW).
Nach dem Film: Gespräch mit Mathias Frick, Alexander Klose, Benjamin Steininger und der Produzentin Eva Rink (Vive la Dok).


Bernd Scherer, noch Intendant des HKW, hält die Begrüßungsrede und verknüpft die Petromoderne-Forschung mit seinem eigenen, wichtigsten Forschungsfeld der letzten zehn Jahre, der Frage nach dem Anthropozän.
Engagierte Frage-Antwort-Runde nach dem erfreulich gut besuchten Film-Screening.