The Subversive Path: Art Toward the Neganthropocene

Abstract

This study examines Chinese contemporary art and technology projects that evoke imaginative and multi-sensory responses to environmental issues by harnessing the subversive potential of contemporary media. Specifically, it argues that these artistic practices can illuminate alternative approaches to practicing the Neganthropocene—a concept introduced by Bernard Stiegler to encourage a collective shift in perspective—while fostering shared affect and a sense of care in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene. The Neganthropocene embodies an act of will, desire, and revolutionary breakthrough from within the system. This study focuses on how the artists’ subversive uses of contemporary media embody and expand Neganthropocenic thinking in creative practices, emphasizing the interdependence of ecosystems in their technological mediations. These artists promote care, or “cooperative intelligence” in Stiegler’s sense, and vulnerability of our beings, highlighting transindividuation between human, technics, and nature. The essay identifies three approaches—manifesting the Symbiocene, materializing the inhuman nature, and addressing the other-than-human—as ways of “doing” the Neganthropocene and reconciling the technological with the ecological. Through this analysis, the study sheds light on a transformative shift in collective perspective and offers insights into navigating the challenges posed by the Anthropocene in contemporary art experiences.