Navigating the Anthropocene: A study of audience experiences with three creative interventions

This thesis presents an exploration of audience engagement with three artworks that each propose to aid our understanding and navigation of the Anthropocene. The impact of human activity on the planet has reached such a scale that geologists suggest the Earth has entered a new epoch: the Anthropocene. This notion, of humanity as a geological force, can be considered a philosophical, ethical and existential juncture of global importance. Art, particularly that which involves an aspect of interactivity, can draw our attention to the power of this juncture and play a role in our navigation of this moment. Though much has been written about the characteristics of art that enable this role to be played, there has been less exploration of how an audience beyond the academy experiences this work. As such, our understanding of how these works operate in practice is limited. This thesis contends that art can play a singular role in creating space for reflection and dialogue, and as a prompt to action, but I show that audience engagement is an under-explored yet vital dimension of Anthropocene art. The research I present here explores experiences with three artworks: Coral Empathy Device (Austen, 2016), Deep Time Walk (Deep Time Walk C.I.C., 2016), and Time and Tide Bell (Vergette, 2007). Insight drawn from rich conversations with research participants indicate that though interactions with art may aid existential reflection and collective action in the face of the Anthropocene, it is important to recognise that it operates within a broader system, with legacies activated and extended, or countered and dismissed, by the previous and subsequent experiences of an audience. I argue that acknowledging and embracing this connectedness may extend the legacies of these artworks and enhance the role they might play at this significant moment in human, and planetary, history.