What on earth is the planetary?

Abstract

There are efforts being made, and forced upon us, to grapple with the earth as an entity, object, and force. Under the guise of “planetarity,” these efforts span pursuits in the natural sciences of atmospheres, environments, and geologies, the biologies of living and ecologies of nonliving things, and the human knowledge practices that chart social, geopolitical, logistical, and infrastructural globalism. In their video essay project, “The Impossibility of a Planet,” artists and researchers Jeremy Bolen and Jamie Allen engage in dialogues with those who seek to compose planetary-scale images, thinking, narratives, and models. In a companion essay to the video segments, an inquiry into the media and methods of such compositions provides complement. Where do planetarities come from, and where are they taking us?