Disaster, Disruption, Desertification: Rethinking the Architecture of Activism, Relearning from a Medieval Ecological Disaster

The paper introduces the Błędowska Desert—a site at the edge of Europe that testifies to evidence of medieval environmental disruption, human-initiated ecological disaster & persistent desertification. It then presents a condensed historical genealogy of experimental “desert-based” arts & architecture pedagogies which feature educational models aimed at immersion within and sensitivity to desert landscapes; and proceeds to detail and critically appraise the contemporary activities & activism of The Arts of Ecology program, an ongoing interdisciplinary project in the EU that intersects disparate researchers from across the arts, humanities, and sciences within the context of a Special Habitat Conservation Area in central Poland. Through investigation of the workshops, performances, installations, and classes conducted on-site, the paper catalogs the numerous means by which contemporary educators are using the arts in Błędowska to re-trace the history of environmental degradation and re-consider the ongoing environmental conservation efforts of this anthropogenic desert. Linking these pedagogical efforts with a constellation of geological, technological & infrastructural trajectories as well as a host of political tensions, ultimately, the research is inscribed within a broader discourse on the concept of disaster. The paper argues that the Błędowska Desert serves not as a model for a return to the fiction of a pristine, untouched wilderness, but instead offers an opportunity to collectively consider the fragile realities of ecosystems, social structures, and built environments alike. In conclusion, the paper asks how the view from the anomalous, anthropogenic desert of Błędowska—and the actions of its arts and activist community—can provide critical and creative lessons for how to adapt, with solidarity, agility, and resilience, in the face of the 21st century’s impending emergency of climate dysregulation and global desertification. Might reconsidering buildings & cities in relation to other historical environmental disasters through new modes of contemporary arts & architecture education make space for imagining new visions & possibilities for the future of built & natural environments.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.112.71

Volume Editors
Germane Barnes & Blair Satterfield

ISBN
978-1-944214-45-6