TEXTOS
SUBMARINE CABLE INFRASTRUCTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE: SENSES OF CONNECTION ON MACUMBA BEACH
Authors: Ruy Cézar Campos Figueiredo and Walmeri Ribeiro
Published in: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of Compós, vol. 33, 2024.
ABSTRACT
Climate change and critical infrastructure, such as submarine cables, present themselves to the public on scales whose cultural intelligibility is as challenging as it is urgent. This article, in this sense, grounds a discussion on the topic based on the artistic experience "Senses of Connection," carried out on Macumba Beach, a submarine cable anchorage site in Rio de Janeiro. The article's relevance lies in presenting, from the perspective of digital materialities, an attention to how climate issues can be approached from the perspective of media infrastructure studies, and more specifically from submarine cable studies. From the perspective of communication practices, it offers an account of an artistic practice experience that, in its theoretical and methodological foundation, engages with research on climate change communication and the possible strategies for mediating the spatial and temporal complexities involved.
ARTISTIC PRACTICES AND CLIMATE CRISIS AT THE 22ND SESC_VIDEOBRASIL BIENNIAL
Author: Ruy Cézar Campos Figueiredo
Published in: v. 34 (2025): 34th Annual Meeting of Compós
ABSTRACT
The intentional engagement of the fields of communication, media studies, and the arts with the climate crisis contributes to a better understanding of the ways of perceiving, understanding, and relating to the construction of meanings about this planetary phenomenon. This text operates, in this sense, from an analysis of artistic practices that address the theme in their presentation texts at the 22nd Sesc_Videobrasil Biennial – Memory is an Island of Editing, curated by Raphael Fonseca and René Akitelek Mboya. The article focuses on the works Heat Waves (video, 2021) and Solar Orders (performance, 2023) by Kent Chan; and Mulika (video, 2022) by Maisha Maene. Based on this analysis, the article connects reflections on the materialities of media and contemporary ecological challenges, broadening an interdisciplinary debate between communication, media studies, and the arts.
