Landvættir in the Anthropocene.

Single Channel HD Video.

The Loop. Hobart. 2023

Landvættir are ‘land spirits’,  entities said to protect places they live. Similarly Hyperobjects are easy to imagine but difficult to rationalize. Global warming, plastic, and radioactivity are so massively distributed in time and space as to seemingly transcend it. They operate comfortably in the territory of spirit and philosophy, while their influence on ecologies remains as objective as science.

Landvættir are revisited as a lens to view Hyperobjects in the Anthropocene. It explores the non-human by removing the nature/culture binary. Through assemblage, photography/ video and works-on-paper, found objects are presented as subjects, inviting a questioning of anthropocentric worldview. 

Inspired by natural science, post-humanism,  ecological philosophy and myth the project collaborates with chance and phenomena to suggest contemporary stories of nature and place.

The resulting works offer a direct reflection of inhabitants within the ecologies and perhaps suggest an impression of their essence in this time of Anthropocene. The works continues practice-led research into the relationships between humanity and environment.

This international research project was made possible by the generous support of The Kone Foundation.