Session 51-1F

A Museum of Carbon Ruins? Ethical and political challenges in historicising an unevenly distributed decarbonisation

With its grand opening scheduled for 2053, the new Swedish museum FOSSIL will be dedicated to documenting the Fossil Era, now considered to be a part of Swedish history, if not yet the history of all nations. In this talk, members of the curatorial team will discuss their work-in-progress on the museum’s debut exhibition, “Carbon Ruins”, and their approach to the selection, acquisition and framing of potential exhibits. They will also address the ethics of celebrating the completion of the Swedish decarbonisation programme in the context of a world where not all such programmes have yet succeeded.

Ludwig Bengtsson Sonesson, Roger Hildingsson, Graeme MacDonald, Alexandra Nikoleris, Johannes Stripple, Paul Graham Raven

Agony Aunt Letters: Epistolary notes from an everyday future

What does everyday life look like in the UK in 2051? Nico Powell looks back from an everyday future to pinpoint actions and decisions that lead to his present: In March 2021 the Bristol City Council approved a motion that committed them to recommend the cause of reparations to the UK Government. The reactions varied and unleashed a chain of events that could lead to very different climate outcomes. The empirical material for Powells analysis are so called agony aunt letters that could be sent to newspapers and were answered by an editor.

Nicolas Powell