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Futuro Antico. Interview with Dominic Pettman
8 ago 2023
Marco Bassan
Cultural theorist and writer, Dominic Pettman is known for his theories on the relationships between libido and ecology. We asked him for a reflection on the world to come.
What are your sources of inspiration in art?
At the moment, I find myself more inspired by certain ways of being receptive to art rather than by a specific artist or artwork. I am particularly interested in “collective acts of sustained attention,” as practiced, for example, by The Order of the Third Bird (a rather enigmatic group that encourages its members to become absorbed or even fused with works of art—together, in silence, and in the same place simultaneously).
Please explain further...
This almost ritualistic approach to encountering aesthetic objects completely transforms the experience and serves as an effective antidote to the growing atomization of cultural consumption.
I am also interested in "speculative design," as practiced by my recent collaborators and co-teachers, Dunne & Raby. They do not consider themselves artists but rather designers for a world that does not exist (which should not be confused with prototypes aimed at shaping the future of the current timeline). This creative perspective intrigues me, and together we are reflecting on an important question in the late Anthropocene era: “Who comes after the human?”
Which project represents you the most? Can you tell us about its genesis?
The project that represents me the most is ongoing and focuses on reflecting on the relationship between Eros and ecology. I have an unofficial trilogy of books on this topic: Creaturely Love, Sonic Intimacy, and Peak Libido. However, I feel that I have only begun to scratch the surface of how “libidinal ecology” informs everything we do (or unconsciously refuse to do).
In what way?
We all know—or rather, feel—that our desires (sexual, romantic, political, spiritual, creative, etc.) have been distorted in the era of hypermedia and climate catastrophe. Yet we have not yet begun to truly confront the fact that our capacity to genuinely care for something (a child, a friend, a project, a community) is collapsing, along with our planetary systems.
What is the importance of Genius Loci in your work?
I suppose everything we create has a sort of “terroir.” After all, every artifact inevitably reflects the conditions of its production. Lately, I tend to think about specific places in terms of frozen temporality, and I am always interested in revisiting Kevin Lynch's fascinating question: “What time is this place?” After all, every specific location is a palimpsest of past epochs (or represents the exclusion of evidence from past epochs, thus becoming haunted by previous places that have now been transformed into non-places). The Genius Loci of the question, however, is more elusive. I fear that the specificity of place is losing its battle against generic aesthetics and anonymous functionality. Perhaps the power of capitalism is to bottle such geniuses back up (all to relabel and resell them).
How important is the past for imagining and building the future?
It’s crucial, especially the graveyard of old ideas or expectations about what the future will be like. One of the greatest challenges we face as a species is the narrow and ideological vision of the future not only proposed but even designed by Silicon Valley and the associated technology prophets. The idea of “innovation” as a panacea is actually as dangerous as the concept of “disruption.” (The recent implosion of the submarine near the Titanic is a perfect allegory of New Ambitions meeting the same fate as Old Designs.) It’s better to look to historical models of humility, cooperation, generosity, intention, and, above all, genuine investment in a sustainable future rather than a reckless obsession with “futures” (in the financial sense).
What advice would you give to a young person who wants to pursue your path?
Life now is too capricious to offer reliable advice, aside from sincerely working— and with humor— on one’s mind, heart, body, and soul reflectively and intentionally, as best as possible with the time available.
In practical terms?
Regarding a career, full-time university positions are disappearing like aquifers; I cannot in good conscience advise young people with intellectual ambitions to invest in a PhD as a ticket to a paid life of the mind. Keeping critical reflection alive and vital in an age dedicated to the self-sabotage of “Fast Thinking” and algorithmic productions is one of the most pressing and irritating questions of our time.
In an era defined by post-truth, does the concept of the sacred still hold importance and strength?
Religion has never been something I could connect with, although I have an interest in the sublime and in "religious" temporality. Vilem Flusser proposed an atheist— or at least agnostic— "shabbat" where we could carve out some time each week for a spiritual pause to reflect on where we have been and where we are going regarding our ambitions, identities, and technologies. I like this idea.
How do you envision the future?
I've read too much Adorno and Kim Stanley Robinson— as well as daily news and scientific reports— to be optimistic about the future. In fact, I tend to believe in the saying: “Things were not better before. But they are definitely getting worse.” The problem is that we hope for a deus ex machina to provide us with a clean energy source that miraculously solves all our material problems and allows us to continue living this comfortable nightmare of modern life.
Could you give us three ideas that you think will guide the coming years?
Three ideas we urgently need to embrace and implement are the three D's: “degrowth,” “deceleration,” and hopefully, “delight,” in a world where we are no longer isolated by alienating conveniences.