Bruno Latour’s Earthbound Theater: Applying Stage-Thinking to Reclaim the Critical Zone
Aline Wiame
aline.wiame@univ-tlse2.frUniversité Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (France)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9113-6488
Abstract
This article shows that the numerous allusions to theater that can be found in Bruno Latour’s work are not mere metaphors but are at the core of Latour’s thought process, based on experimentations between philosophy-writing and stage-writing. This thought process can be traced back to Latour’s early work, in the 1980s—on Louis Pasteur and his invention of the laboratory, which Latour calls a “theater of the proof.” The article then turns to a question that is central to Latour’s work on the New Climatic Regime: how to design a new theater of the proof suited to our ecological condition—a theater that would definitely cast the temptation for the sublime away and insert us into what Earth system scientists call the “critical zone.” It finally argues that the most striking instantiation of this new theater of the proof can be found in the “Où atterrir?” workshops Latour initiated in 2020, which develop pragmatist and situated inquiries relying on an applied, “ecologized” theater.
Keywords:
Bruno Latour, theater ecology, Louis Pasteur, New Climatic RegimeReferences
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Authors
Aline Wiamealine.wiame@univ-tlse2.fr
Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès France
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9113-6488
Aline Wiame - holds a phd in Philosophy from Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and is an Associate Professor of Arts and Philosophy at Université Toulouse—Jean Jaures (France). She has also been a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France since October 2023. Her research covers the sensory dimensions of the climate crisis and resides at the intersection of aesthetics, contemporary philosophy, and ecological humanities. She worked with Bruno Latour’s team on the ERC project An Inquiry into Modes of Existence (Paris) and is a member of the artssciences Rivage company (Bordeaux).
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