There’s no future in ice: lichen, reindeer, olfaction and environmental change
2025 (Engelska)Konferensbidrag, Poster (med eller utan abstract) (Övrigt vetenskapligt)
Abstract [en]
Ephemeral and invisible, smell chemicals are exchanged at all scales, from cellular to planetary, flowing between microbes, fungi, plants, animals, soil, water and air. Odorants move through and between bodies and ecologies, integral to life processes and multi-species place-making. However, olfactory orientations are redolent with the pungent stench of colonial and capitalist over-consumption, extraction and terra-firming. Across Saapmi, anthropogenic climate change has caused unpredictable snow melts that freeze into ice, covering lichen, which is the main winter food for reindeer. Odorants produced by lichen don’t diffuse through the ice and reindeer struggle to smell and find food. This seemingly small shift has profound effects on ecologies, economies and cultures. This poster describes an artistic research project, “There’s no future in ice,” which explores how creative practices can help us better understand the olfactory relations of lichen, reindeer and ice, non-human experiences of ecological grief and loss, and responsibilities of settler-colonial consumption.
Ort, förlag, år, upplaga, sidor
2025.
Nyckelord [en]
olfaction, smellscapes, lichen, reindeer, ice, solastalgia, climate change, environmental change, sensory ethnography, posthuman
Nyckelord
Sápmi
Nationell ämneskategori
Fri konst Design Tvärdisciplinära studier i humaniora och konst
Forskningsämne
Konstnärlig forskning; zooekologi; klimatförändringar; design; miljöförändringar; gamla testamentets exegetik; biologi
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-247807OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-247807DiVA, id: diva2:2023252
Konferens
UTRI 2025, Umeå Transformation Research Initiative's annual conference; Dealing with the Polycrisis, Umeå, Sweden, November 27, 2025
Projekt
Scentsory Foraging2025-12-182025-12-182025-12-19Bibliografiskt granskad