Publication DNA #24: Evidence Ensembles

Following Kat’s participation in the Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s Anthropocene Curriculum event Unearthing the Present, we are delighted to announce that the follow-up publication DNA #24: Evidence Ensembles (2024), published by Spector Books is now available.

CONTRIBUTORS: Kat Austen; Christoph Rosol; Giulia Rispoli; Katrin Klingan; Niklas Hoffmann-Walbeck; Carbon Aesthetics Group; Nigel Clark; Kristine L. DeLong; Anna Echterhölter; Victor Galaz et al.

Fossil Echoes Book Published

We are thrilled to announce the publication of Kat’s book Fossil Echoes, which draws together two of my artworks that look at the consequences of human addiction to fossil fuels. On one side, This Land is Not Mine about brown coal mining and its effect on landscape and culture. On the other, Stranger to the Trees about how microplastics created from oil interact with trees.

This bi-lingual (German / English) limited edition publication has a Foreword by artist and curator Dominika Kluszczyk with translation by Vanessa Kreitlow. It is printed by Umweltdruck in Berlin and is also available as a pdf under CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.

The publication was funded as part of the Neustart Kulture Module C funding afforded for Stranger to the Trees by BBK Berlin.

Carbon Echoes Trilogy at Ars Electronica

Stranger to the Trees (2020)

We are delighted to announce that Kat will be showing for the first time her Carbon Echoes trilogy at Ars Electronica festival 2022.

The three works shown together are Stranger to the Trees, This Land is Not Mine and Palaeoplasticene.

Entanglement with carbon is an essential component of the extreme influence of humans on the planet. This trilogy of works introduces three artistic responses to this problem space from Kat Austen’s practice that address positions on aspects of anthropic entanglement with carbon at a more-than-human timescale. Presented together for the first time, the three works interrogate carbon and the impact of humans on its distribution around the planet and through time. The impact of fossil fuel extraction on landscapes, society and ecosystems, the impact of the spread of microplastic — the starting material for which is predominantly fossil fuels — on trees and forests and the reconfiguration of enduring carbon-based materials in a speculative past. These positions reflect not only on the climate crisis but also on quality of life for humans and for the plants, animals and ecosystems with which humans share the planet.

Ars Electronica Festival
7-11th September 2022
Linz, Austria

More information

Palaeoplasticene (2021)

Screenshot, This Land is Not Mine (2022)

counter/knowledge at MORE WORLD conference

Kat’s work has been featured by Berliner Gazette as one of their Impulses for their 20th Anniversary MORE WORLD feature, which explores the role of collectivity in addressing climate change.

At the MORE WORLD conference this October, Kat will participate in and feature a short performance from The Matter of the Soul, for the COUNTER/KNOWLEDGE track.

Kat will perform one movement from The Matter of the Soul at the Berliner Gazette 20th Anniversary Gala Evening on the 12th October, performance starts at 20:30. Attendance of the performance is free and independent of attending the conference.

10th – 12th October 2019
Center for Arts and Urbanistics (ZK/U)
Berlin, Germany

Registration is open until 1st September 2019.