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{"id":265725,"date":"2025-01-01T19:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T00:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/hyperintime-une-coexistence-resistante-durant-lanthropocene\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T09:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T14:59:11","slug":"hyperintimate-a-resistant-coexistence-in-the-anthropocene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/hyperintimate-a-resistant-coexistence-in-the-anthropocene\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyperintimate: A Resistant Coexistence\u00a0in\u00a0the Anthropocene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the most striking examples of Morton\u2019s hyperobjects is plastic: its perpetual accumulation in the biosphere, alongside its resistance to metabolization, embodies their sprawling, pervasive nature. Having the potential to enter the fossil record,1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 1 <\/a> - Patricia L. Corocan, Charles J. Moore, and Kelly Jazvac, \u201cAn Anthropogenic Marker Horizon in the Future Rock Record,\u201d GSA Today<\/em> 24, no. 6 (2014): 4.<\/span> plastic is an all-encompassing presence that saturates the planet: it dominates landfills, is found at the bottom of oceans, and infiltrates our cells in minute forms as nanoplastics. This unrelenting state of over–saturation exposes the failure of the redemption mindset, which assumes that human intervention\u2014through recycling, reducing, and repurposing\u2014can remedy the problem even as it neglects the far-reaching contamination parameters of plastics that surpass our capacity to mitigate or contain. As the philosopher Heather Davis notes, such stratagems fall short of addressing plastic\u2019s \u201caccumulation without metabolism\u201d; hence, the issue remains unabated.2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 2 <\/a> - Heather Davis, \u201cPlastic: Accumulation without Metabolism,\u201d in Placing the Golden Spike: Landscapes of the Anthropocene<\/em>, eds. Dehlia Hannah and Sara Krajewski (Milwaukee: INOVA, 2015), 71.<\/span> We find ourselves continuously enmeshed in various hyper-objects that shape and exceed the parameters of our control through their cumulative effects that ripple across generations with no geographical boundaries. According to Morton in their book Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence<\/em>, the Anthropocene thus demands a rethinking of our coexistence as the distinction between human and non-human continues to dissolve.3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 3 <\/a> - Timothy Morton, Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence<\/em> (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), 69. See also Derrick Harris, review of Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence<\/em> by Timothy Morton, Environmental Philosophy <\/em>2 (Fall 2016): 304.<\/span> As these conceptual categories become increasingly difficult to discern, Morton argues that art, too, must be rethought through the framework of intermeshing. They assert, \u201cArt now can only be an uneasy collaboration between humans and nonhumans, not a purely human exploration of access to nonhumans, or the lack thereof,\u201d4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 4 <\/a> - Timothy Morton, \u201cPoisoned Ground: Art and Philosophy in the Time of Hyperobjects,\u201d symploke<\/em> 21, no. 1\u20132 (2013): 50.<\/span> and stress that contemporary art must reckon with the other-than-human as not a distant or inaccessible realm but a co-constitutive force, reflecting the intricate and often uneasy interrelations that configure the Anthropocene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In light of Morton\u2019s claim, I turn to Tegan Moore and Kelly Jazvac, who contemplate this state of intermeshing in the Anthropocene in their recent artworks. They respond to the proximity of plastic hyperobjects by utilizing the gallery space to reveal the contours of entanglements both synthetic and natural. Considering the inescapable intermeshing that hyperobjects impose on this cohabitation, I propose that their artistic practices invite a rethinking of intimacy. Rather than a chosen, voluntary, or human closeness, plastic as hyperobject embodies an involuntary and often imposed form of relationship, as is echoed in Davis\u2019s conceptualization of intimacy through the lens of material relationships\u2014how our enmeshments with non-human entities challenge notions of proximity, agency, and anxiety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Kelly-Jazvac\"
Kelly Jazvac<\/strong>
Polyempath Polyethylene<\/em>, exhibition view, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, 2021.
Photo: Laura Findlay, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Plastic\u2019s hyper-scaled impact urges us to recognize how our actions create interdependencies with materials that shape the future, situating us in a hyperintimate<\/em> relationality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Our reliance on plastics thus complicates our understanding of intimacy as inherently positive, nurturing, and mutual; plastic\u2019s infiltration into our bodies, food chains, and ecosystems manifests a closeness that is invasive and potentially harmful. This relationship, which Moore and Jazvac each explore, is marked by an inherent tension: it configures a sense of closeness and interconnectedness, yet simultaneously evokes feelings of anxiety and discomfort. In their art practices, they illuminate how this duality manifests in our engagement with plastics, revealing the complexities of intimacy in a world increasingly defined by hyperobjects. Even as plastic intertwines human and non-human experiences, it also brings to the fore the unsettling realities of our dependence on it, prompting a re-evaluation of what it means to be intimately connected in an age of environmental crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tegan Moore<\/strong>
Chiral Coil<\/em>, installation view, YYZ Artists\u2019 Outlet, Toronto, 2021.
Photo: Yuula Benivolski, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Moore\u2019s and Jazvac\u2019s investigations of intimacy through human enmeshment with hyperobjects such as plastic align with Morton\u2019s call for a coherent framework of future coexistence on Earth that acknowledges non-human entities\u2019 active presence and closeness. Morton critiques the philosophical and scientific paradigms that seek to reduce the other-than-human world to merely passive and mechanistic matter, devoid of agency. Expanding on this idea, they assert that reductive attempts to treat non-human matter as inert substances have become increasingly untenable in light of global warming. Far from passive, the non-human is asserting its agency through rising temperatures, shifting ecosystems, and increased frequency of weather events. In the Anthropocene, the inability to clearly discern between human and non-human has become a source of anxiety, making the need for a framework of coexistence even more pressing. Plastic, especially with its aggressive yet elusive character, aggravates this feeling even further as it disperses in minute forms, infiltrating food systems, accumulating in bodies, and contributing to rising cancer rates. Its agency operates within the world in a manner that profoundly reshapes life on Earth. Plastic moves across environments, a hyperobject at times indistinguishable from its surroundings, obscuring our ability to comprehend its intimate enmeshment in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Tegan-Moore\"
Tegan Moore<\/strong>
Contaminant Lung (hydrophilic blue scar tissue hug with heirloom)<\/em>, installation view, Centre CLARK, Montr\u00e9al, 2024.
Photo: Paul Litherland, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This anxiety, resulting from plastic\u2019s elusiveness, is reflected in Tegan Moore\u2019s most recent exhibition, Condensations<\/em> (2024), shown at Centre CLARK, Montr\u00e9al, in June 2024. The familiarity of water droplets amassing during condensation\u2014the phenomenon that lends its name to the exhibition\u2014and the growth of plastic accumulation reveal how seemingly natural processes mirror the pervasive yet insidious nature of plastic. Suspended from the ceiling, the frame of the central work, Condensations (when the light thing becomes heavy) <\/em>(2024),made of maple, oak, and walnut wood offcuts, supports a fibreglass mesh that stretches across its entire expanse. Its minute apertures cradle countless polystyrene-foam granules. As these particles, weightless yet omnipresent, cast their gentle shadow upon us, their volatility unfolds, revealing an unpredictable and pervasive character that resists confinement. The erratic nature of the polystyrene particles is barely held by the minute apertures in the mesh; a mere breath can send them cascading downward. The light passes through as permitted by the granules, akin to sunlight seeping through clouds. This is the manner in which Moore ensnares our perception: what one instinctively identifies as the sensation of light permeating through clouds is, in actuality, its delicate diffusion by the polystyrene granules. Unlike the clouds that pour rain once the gradual gathering and amassing of water can no longer bear its own weight, the particles lying on the mesh confront us with the reality of plastic accumulation: its refusal to decompose, metabolize, and dissipate. Moore not only exposes the escalating crisis of plastic pollution but also contests the framework of separation between the human and non-human to discern the synthetic from the natural. This uncanny feeling, emerging from the growing difficulty in differentiating between the two, reflects a greater epistemological dilemma that both Morton and Davis address: the once-clear categorical boundaries with which we once navigated our environment are becoming increasingly porous and ambiguous.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

This epistemological ambiguity, as Davis contends, arises from plastic\u2019s intrinsic pliability, heralded in its very name, which has been central to its widespread proliferation since its invention at the beginning of the twentieth century. This is what constitutes plastic\u2019s allure\u2014its capacity to resist fixed categorization and adapt to multiple physical forms and functions, thereby enabling its pervasive presence in contemporary life. Its properties, which allow it to be infinitely moulded and transformed, render it appealing; yet, this very quality simultaneously disrupts the finite nature of organic life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite its ability to assume numerous forms, plastic fails to integrate into its natural surroundings and thus always behaves like an anomaly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Davis\u2019s notion of \u201cstiff ontology\u201d encapsulates this inherent contradiction: plastic is both versatile and alien, capable of adapting while ultimately reinforcing its category-defying status as an intrusive presence.5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 5 <\/a> - Heather Davis, Plastic Matter<\/em> (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022), 53.<\/span> Such accumulation not only stands as an enduring symbol of modernity\u2019s failure to reconcile with its own material excesses in the biosphere, but also generates a disquieting presence that lingers beyond cycles of death and life, which we must reckon with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tegan Moore<\/strong>
Contaminant Lung<\/em>, installation view, Centre CLARK, Montr\u00e9al, 2024.
Photo: Paul Litherland, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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An earlier exhibition by Moore, Foam Fatigue <\/em>(2021), offered a pertinent manifestation of Davis\u2019s stiff ontology by capturing plastic\u2019s inherent resistance to earthly processes precisely because it deviates from all other familiar material or formations. This exhibition, presented during the upsurge of COVID-19, centred on fatigue, displayed through materials that have undergone cyclic or repeated stresses. It was composed predominantly of salvaged foam, a material that, in its fatigued state, appears creased and crazed, mirroring its intrinsically elusive nature: a type of plastic that is simultaneously pliable yet resistant, exhausted yet enduring. Despite wear and depletion, plastic manifests an unyielding durability and resistance. The notion of foam fatigue, in material sciences, denotes the gradual degradation of a material caused by the repetitive exercise of friction and stress.6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 6 <\/a> - \u201cFoam Fatigue Featuring Tegan Moore,\u201d YYZ Artists\u2019 Outlet (website), September 15, 2024, accessible online.<\/span> Under sufficient pressure, the stress intensity can exceed its inherent toughness and escalate to the point of initiating a crack. Foam\u2019s aging process, on the other hand, can be likened to natural phenomena: when crystallized, it can bloom akin to algae or flowers. Even when the membranous films partitioning its air pockets deteriorate, succumbing to the erosive effects of time, they never fully vanish. Experiencing artworks made predominantly of lethargic foam during a time of emphasis on the vulnerability of human life presents the fundamental predicament of the Anthropocene. Plastic, in its exhausted yet unyielding state, here manifests its overbearing agency at a time when human inventions leave indelible marks on Earth, yet human life remains fleeting and precarious. Similar to Condensations (when the light thing becomes heavy)<\/em>,the sculptural installations in Foam Fatigue <\/em>evoked this disquieting coexistence of humans with non-human presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Tegan-Moore\"
Tegan Moore<\/strong>
Condensations (when the light thing becomes heavy)<\/em>, installation view, Centre CLARK, Montr\u00e9al, 2024.
Photo: Paul Litherland, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Tegan-Moore\"
Tegan Moore<\/strong>
Citadine Isolation (city girl esters are more sensitive to hydrolysis while city girl ethers are more sensitive to oxidation)<\/em>, installation view, Centre CLARK, Montr\u00e9al, 2024.
Photo: Paul Litherland, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Kelly Jazvac also explored resistant coexistence in her 2021 exhibition Polyempath Polyethylene<\/em>. In Controlled Flouncing<\/em> (2021), Jazvac addresses the emotional dimensions of the impacts of plastic accretion. This work, encompassing the entire gallery floor, welcomed viewers to walk over it. The act of traversing the black underside of the work inscribed the viewer\u2019s presence onto the surface, as marks left on the polyvinylchloride materialized this exchange. Each visitor navigating the gallery space left impressions on the material\u2019s surface that amassed throughout the span of the exhibition. As heralded in the exhibition\u2019s title, Jazvac aimed to mobilize engagement with polyvinylchloride by interpreting its pervasive presence through her manipulation of commercial billboards normally used for advertising. Accompanying Controlled Flouncing<\/em>, Knife Pleats<\/em> (2019\u201321) spanned the entirety of the central wall, commanding immediate attention. Jazvac transformed this poster, originally a polyvinylchloride billboard advertising an outdoor clothing company, by sewing it into an arch form. Now subtly altered, it retained echoes of its original imagery and function\u2014a mountain landscape with dramatic cloud scenery. Her utilization of the reverse side of billboards\u2014a medium traditionally understood through its superficial imagery\u2014challenged viewers to confront the material\u2019s latent and concealed dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Kelly-Jazvac\"
Kelly Jazvac<\/strong>
Polyempath Polyethylene<\/em>, exhibition view, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, 2021.
Photo: Laura Findlay, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Kelly-Jazvac\"
Kelly Jazvac<\/strong>
Controlled Flouncing<\/em>, installation view, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, 2021.
Photo: Laura Findlay, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Experienced through Moore\u2019s and Jazvac\u2019s installations, the pervasive issue of plastic accumulation, plastic\u2019s overwhelming presence and incomprehensibility, as articulated through Morton\u2019s concept of the hyperobject, becomes certain. It defies complete comprehension and control, forcing us to confront a new paradigm of coexistence. Moore and Jazvac interrogate the deceiving yet prevailing paradigms of separation that typically delineate human from non-human. By foregrounding the inescapable presence of plastic and its inherent resistance to fixed categorization, however, Moore and Jazvac retain that our mode of coexistence is one that is hyperintimate<\/em>\u2014a relationship marked by not only an unsettling proximity but also by an invasiveness that compels a rethinking of intimacy. With boundaries between human and non-human becoming ever more indistinct, these artistic interventions confront us with the disquieting realities of our hyperintimacy, prompting a critical assessment of how we engage with plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A writer and researcher from Istanbul, Irem Karaaslan is interested in exploring how aesthetics can address the pressing issues of the twenty-first century meaningfully, with a particular emphasis on the migrant crisis and ecological exigencies.<\/p>\n\n\n

Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>\n
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>
Irem Karaaslan, Kelly Jazvac, Tegan Moore<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Anthropocene signifies a fundamental rupture from\u00a0Earth\u2019s\u00a0history wherein human impact resembles\u00a0a\u00a0geological force; unfolding autonomously and on a massive scale, it\u00a0exerts\u00a0a\u00a0lasting influence on ecological processes and\u00a0spheres. The philosopher Timothy Morton conceptualizes the disorienting\u00a0phenomena that characterize the Anthropocene as\u00a0hyperobjects\u2014temporally and spatially extensive entities\u00a0that\u00a0have\u00a0a far-reaching impact on the world yet elude direct\u00a0contact and visibility.<\/br>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":265681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[882],"tags":[],"numeros":[7283],"disciplines":[],"statuts":[],"checklist":[],"auteurs":[7289],"artistes":[1170,7290],"thematiques":[],"type_post":[319],"class_list":["post-265725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-post","numeros-113-plastics","auteurs-irem-karaaslan-en","artistes-kelly-jazvac","artistes-tegan-moore-en","type_post-principal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265725"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270593,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265725\/revisions\/270593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"numeros","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/numeros?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"statuts","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/statuts?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"checklist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/checklist?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"auteurs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/auteurs?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"artistes","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artistes?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"thematiques","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thematiques?post=265725"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=265725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}