>1.5°C: Pyropolitics and the New World

From Viennale

The only direct commentary is the opening Michael Marder quote, which talks of our new era of “pyropolitics” and of the need to discern its manifestations and learn its language, a task that Lukas Marxt duly undertakes by way of a case study: the Los Angeles wildfires of January 2025. It begins by night with the fires already ablaze and efforts in full swing to contain them, a relentless battle of countless tiny skirmishes captured in static compositions of a precision that belies the volatile situation. Helicopters pass before horizons of smoke, firefighters infiltrate shadowy properties, twigs crackle, sirens ring out and radios buzz, although it’s the smallest, eeriest details that hit hardest, the torch passing over a swimming pool, the figure hacking away at the brush to prevent further spread, red lights flashing in the water streaming along the gutters. The two next sections function the same way, showing an emergency shelter and the smouldering streets at dawn: singed pets in little plastic chambers, truckle beds being sprayed with disinfectant, the unexpected pan that ends on a solitary chimney stack. If this is an exercise in close reading, each semantic unit indexes its own tiny universe and the world simmering beyond. (James Lattimer)