“Insurgent Geology” is about oil, fossils, power, and people. It is about blowing up pipelines and taking care of the soil. Shifting from deep time to speculative near future, it calls for both insurrection and geo-poetics for environmental and social justice in the Arctic.
Projected in 2051, “Insurgent Geology” unearths past land trauma, speculates on the post-oil landscapes of Alaska, and investigates alternative geo-social practices and mineral kinships. It critiques geology as an extractive, neocolonial discipline and practice. It challenges the concept of the Museum of Natural History and explores novel methods to share geological knowledge to the public. A novel geo-social classification is proposed, and alternative geo-aesthetics are explored through the design of “mineral gardens” and “geo-memorials.”
Composite long section along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) in Alaska. Profiles have been selected and stitched together from the site of oil and gas extraction in Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic Plains to Valdez Town, the outlet of the pipeline, in southern Alaska. The lower grey section at the base of the drawing shows the actual elevation profile and the permafrost thickness along the pipeline.
“Insurgent Geology” reinterprets the concept of the Site and Non-Site. A counter-exhibition is designed (the non-site), paired with a pilgrimage through the extractive landscapes of Alaska. Following the oil from the outlet of the pipeline in Valdez town to the site of extraction in the Arctic slope, the pilgrimage is connected by site-specific interventions designed along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (the sites).
Advisor: Rose Monacella
View of the arrival to the Valdez Mineral Park (Stop 1 of the Pilgrimage), where the old industrial marine terminal used to be. The meandering geo-structures along the path show constructed stratification made up of recycled industrial materials such as asphalt and concrete.
View from the Geo-memorial for the Great Explosion of 2042 (Stop 2 of the Pilgrimage). Land-art as a novel geo-aesthetics in the post-oil era of Alaska. The recycled pieces of the cut pipeline are aligned on the ground to abstract the direction of the deflagration.
View from the elevated walkway of the “Old Quarry Path” in Valdez Mineral Park (Stop 1 of the Pilgrimage). The undulating fence is made up of recycled pipeline. The metallic mesh of the walkway allows the visitors to see through the path and to connect to the dramatic topography of the old quarry. Metallic nets protect the pilgrims from falling rocks, more and more frequent with climate change.
View from the center of the crater, at the site of the Great Explosion of 2042 (Stop 2 of the Pilgrimage). Half of the crater has been left as it was after the explosion, while the northern part of the site has been designed to display a vertical soil profile below the old pipeline infrastructure. A remnant of the pipeline has been located at the center of the crater. Painted in yellow on the artefact, visitors can still read the graffiti: “no more oil, more soil.”
View from the elevated pathway at the site of Great Explosion of 2042 (Stop 2 of the Pilgrimage). Perfectly aligned to the infrastructure, the visitor can look directly into the pipeline, where oil used to flow from the Arctic plains.
View of the “Sacred Outcrop” (Stop 3 of the pilgrimage) showing a pilgrim connecting with the Triassic Shublik geological formation while boreal lights are shining in the arctic sky.
Manual for a petrostate dis-assembly. The guide urges eco-militants to escalate the climate justice movement by fostering direct actions against targeted private property related to the oil and gas industries. Technical information about the pipeline is provided, as well as the “Ethics of the Perfect Saboteur.”
