Climatic Subjects: Cultural Interventions, Writing Climate, and a Burning Planet

Who, or what, is the contemporary climatic subject? Addressing the climate crisis in thought, imagination, and in action requires a connection between scholars, artists, journalists, and activists. The contributors to this volume put such a cooperation into practice and present not only academic articles, but also interviews, short stories, poems, and political essays. Readers will encounter the ›climatic subject‹ as an entity and as a historical force. But they will also hear the ›climatic subject‹ posed as a question, a displacement of subjectivation under the condition of the climate crisis. Finally, they will find the ›climatic subject‹ as a connector for new subjectivities yet to be embodied in cultural practice.

Martin Zähringer is a literary critic and climate cultures journalist based in Berlin. He writes documentaries and radio features with an international approach, often on climate crisis relations. He is one of the founders and art director of the CLIMATE CULTURES network berlin e.V., which tries to connect people from different professional branches and with interests in science, arts, journalism, literature, politics and activism – gathering global impressions of climate cultures bottom up and connecting them.

Simon Probst (Dr. phil.), geb. 1993, arbeitet als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Projekt »Das naturkulturelle Gedächtnis im Anthropozän. Archive, Medien und Literaturen der Erdgeschichte« (2024-2026) an der Universität Vechta. Seine Arbeit verbindet Kultur- und Literaturtheorie mit Bereichen wie Klimatologie, Erdsystemforschung oder Ökosemiotik und entwickelt planetarische und ökologische Perspektiven auf die deutsche Literatur vom 18. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert.

Matthias Grotkopp ist Juniorprofessor für Digital Film Studies an der Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe Cinepoetics an der Freien Universität Berlin.