Tales of the Rare Earth - deep time and deep futures in the arts | Erich Berger

Deep time is understood as the concept behind geological time: the history of the earth from its beginnings as a molten ball of matter until the present. Deep futures do not yet exist, they are a thought-vehicle to speculate within the probability space of a future earth.

The realization that anthropogenic impact is leading to transformations of the earth-system which follow through into deep futures is not only discussed within the sciences. The Anthropocene and with it a strong interest directed towards deep time and matters of geology surface increasingly within artistic practices.

At its core artists look at the origins and consequences of human impact and speculate about deep futures.

Berger’s own interest, manifesting in his artistic work, is to investigate the dichotomy between human time perception and the time in biological, environmental, and geological processes which we as humans are part of. This dichotomy arises from the present as we as individuals are challenged to change our way of live and to contribute to endeavours and measures to secure a human future which we will not be part of and for humans which we will never know.