Heliotropism at the terminal beach of critique

Abstract

In this essay, previously published in its English version in The Large Glass magazine. Journal of Contemporary Art, Culture and Theory (No. 27/28, 2019, pp. 48-57), Jeff Diamanti reflects on the status of criticism in the context of the ecological crisis. Is it feasible to sustain the position of the critical subject in the face of the hyper-object dimensions of phenomena such as climate change, of that enveloping and potentially catastrophic reality of which we are a part and in which nature and history appear strongly imbricated? From some passages from the work of Theodor W. Adorno, from the installation of Olafur Eliasson in the turbine room of the Tate Modern and of references of contemporary visual culture (such as the Leviathan series), Diamanti presents an intellectual exercise that updates the humanities (specifically, the perspective of the so-called "energy humanities") from the incorporation of the urgencies and challenges that for cultural criticism bring critical events such as global warming or burning of fossil fuels.