Stranger to the Trees (2020)

We are delighted to announce that Kat will be showing for the first time her Carbon Echoes trilogy at Ars Electronica festival 2022.

The three works shown together are Stranger to the Trees, This Land is Not Mine and Palaeoplasticene.

Entanglement with carbon is an essential component of the extreme influence of humans on the planet. This trilogy of works introduces three artistic responses to this problem space from Kat Austen’s practice that address positions on aspects of anthropic entanglement with carbon at a more-than-human timescale. Presented together for the first time, the three works interrogate carbon and the impact of humans on its distribution around the planet and through time. The impact of fossil fuel extraction on landscapes, society and ecosystems, the impact of the spread of microplastic — the starting material for which is predominantly fossil fuels — on trees and forests and the reconfiguration of enduring carbon-based materials in a speculative past. These positions reflect not only on the climate crisis but also on quality of life for humans and for the plants, animals and ecosystems with which humans share the planet.

Ars Electronica Festival
7-11th September 2022
Linz, Austria

More information

Palaeoplasticene (2021)

Screenshot, This Land is Not Mine (2022)