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CATEGORIES:Civic Matter Faculty Research Group @ CRASSH
SUMMARY:Invisible Matters and Dark Ecologies: Exposure\, E
 thics and Art-Anthropology in Post-Disaster Japan 
 - Jennifer Clarke\, University of Aberdeen
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20141110T133000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20141110T153000
UID:TALK55230AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/55230
DESCRIPTION:This is new research and is partly propositional. 
 I am interested in thinking through modes of syncr
 etism (Law\, 2013) to consider how material realit
 ies intersect with other logics\, and how practice
 s hold together empirically and imaginatively. Rad
 iation and contamination are invisible matters not
  only because they are imperceptible to humans\; t
 he disaster exposed complex ties between people an
 d the nuclear industry\, tangled up in corruption 
 and obfuscation. Forms of measurement and visualis
 ation of radiation levels exist but they are often
  abstract. Geiger counter numbers are uncertain\, 
 and while fascinating visualisations of data proli
 ferate (often thanks to NGO and volunteer organisa
 tions) they ‘don’t seem real’\, they have a geo-lo
 gic. A common response has been to ‘defer the reco
 gnition of reality’. Risks are downplayed and the 
 effects of low-level exposure has been normalised.
  Porous boundaries and arbitrary lines (whether ma
 pping the evacuation zones or between bodies and c
 ontaminated matters) exist within a matrix of conf
 ormity\, acceptance\, ostracism and exclusion. I w
 ill begin by discussing ways of negotiating exposu
 re to radiation and contamination such as the use 
 of talismans I encountered in Miyagi in May this y
 ear. I will consider ethics in terms of the respon
 sibilities involved doing anthropological research
  here\, and anthropology as ethics (cf. Evens\, 20
 09)\, illustrating some of this by way of memorial
 isations. It is striking ‘how alive the dead are.’
  Here I explore exposure and ethics in terms of th
 e uncanny\, how absence is made present and the ‘g
 eographies of love’(Wylie\, 2009). Ultimately I am
  interested in the role of art and artists and the
  possibilities for art –anthropology. I will give 
 examples of contemporary art\, speculative means t
 o counter ‘mainstream’ narratives\, visualising in
 visible matters\, as well as describe aspects of m
 y proposed work\, including installations and expe
 rimental printmaking using Japanese woodcut.
LOCATION:SG1 @ CRASSH Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road
 \, Cambridge\, CB3 9DT
CONTACT:Noemi Tousignant
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