| Title | Chlorophyll |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Aster Hoving (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.53288/0404.1.04 |
| Landing page | https://punctumbooks.com/titles/solarities-elemental-encounters-and-refractions/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Aster Hoving |
| Publisher | punctum books |
| Published on | 2023-11-22 |
| Long abstract | This essay traces the seasonal and diurnal rhythms of chlorophyll, the pigment that makes the leaves of plants appear green, to develop an elemental analysis of solar energy infrastructures. I explore the temporal, material, and conceptual affordances of chlorophyll through poetic and visual artworks that evoke the changing availability of sunlight reaching the earth. Attending to chlorophyll, I argue, demonstrates how fantasies of unlimited solar energy depend on efforts to seize permanent access and exposure to the sun. While colossal infrastructure projects covering or even transcending the earth aim to turn the sun into an unlimited profitable resource, chlorophyll makes perceptible embod |
| Page range | pp. 49–62 |
| Print length | 14 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Keywords |
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Aster Hoving is a doctoral researcher in Environmental Humanities with the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities at the University of Stavanger. Her PhD project “Ocean Energies” investigates how energy companies, scientists, and artists engage with the ocean’s energies. Previously, Aster studied at Utrecht University, the University of Amsterdam, UC Berkeley, and New York University. Her master’s thesis “Elemental Aesthetics” received the Faculty of Humanities UvA Thesis Prize 2021 and in 2023 she was awarded the inaugural British Council Scotland SGSAH EARTH Scholarship for research at the University of Glasgow. Aster’s published work can be found on the website Environmental History Now (2021).