The Hydrocene: Eco-Aesthetics in the Age of Water

This book challenges conventional notions of the Anthropocene and champions the Hydrocene: the Age of Water. It presents the Hydrocene as a disruptive, conceptual epoch and curatorial theory, emphasising water’s pivotal role in the climate crisis and contemporary art.

The Hydrocene is a wet ontological shift in eco-aesthetics which redefines our approach to water, transcending anthropocentric, neo-colonial and environmentally destructive ways of relating to water. As the most fundamental of elements, water has become increasingly politicised, threatened and challenged by the climate crisis. In response, The Hydrocene articulates and embodies the distinctive ways contemporary artists relate and engage with water, offering valuable lessons towards climate action. Through five compelling case studies across swamp, river, ocean, fog and ice, this book binds feminist environmental humanities theories with the practices of eco-visionary artists. Focusing on Nordic and Oceanic water-based artworks, it demonstrates how art can disrupt established human-water dynamics. By engaging hydrofeminist, care-based and planetary thinking, The Hydrocene learns from the knowledge and agency of water itself within the tide of art going into the blue.

The Hydrocene urgently highlights the transformative power of eco-visionary artists in reshaping human-water relations. At the confluence of contemporary art, curatorial theory, climate concerns and environmental humanities, this book is essential reading for researchers, curators, artists, students and those seeking to reconsider their connection with water and advocate for climate justice amid the ongoing natural-cultural water crisis.

Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris (PhD) is an Australian and Swedish curator, writer and lecturer with expertise in the politics and poetics of eco-aesthetics. Based in Warrang/Sydney on Gadigal and Bidjigal land, she is a sessional academic of curatorial theory and practice at Stockholm University, the University of Sydney, and the University of New South Wales where she was also awarded her doctoral degree with distinction. Bronwyn maintains an independent curatorial practice, having curated multiple exhibitions in Stockholm, Sydney, Melbourne and Madrid, alongside published writing on art, water and ecology in Australia, France, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and U.S.A. She is the Curator for the Climate Aware Creative Practices Network, an Australia-wide alliance of creative arts educators, researchers and practitioners committed to meeting the challenges posed to creative practice and pedagogy by climate change.