ADDING TO, SUBTRACTING FROM BRENNA FRANSEN
NO.12
“We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we can see land as a community to which we belong we may begin to use it with love and respect.” - Aldo Leopold
DATUM
16
The land exists as a constant subtraction and addition, be it by human or natural forces, with a developmental focus on the additive proportion. By the action of adding material, a subtraction occurs from another point in space. Therefore, all materials exist as an energy in which the form and function is transformed through these patterns of adding to and subtracting from. Once this transformation could be traced from the hands of humanity, the Anthropocene began. The dominant additive nature of the post industrial world masks the negative impacts on the landscapes of which our world is built from.
“The dominant additive nature of the post industrial world masks the negative impacts on the landscapes of which our world is built from.”
Extraction is one of the most recognizable physical transformations by humans, creating industrial pits which are too often discarded and forgotten after their exploitation. These voids in the earth become reverse images of the exact cityscapes they are building. Lucy Lippard, activist and author of Undermining argues that “Mines and quarries are metaphorically cities turned upside down.” Most quarries aren’t located in densely populated cities but are often found in small cities and amongst marginalized communities suffering from the climate crisis disproportionately. Once these sites are depleted from their profitable resources, these weathered pits often become abandoned and cease to bring growth and development to that area. Since harvested materials are relocated from their origin, quarries are depleted from continuous economic stability and quite often go bankrupt. Once abandoned, quarries often fill with water and can become sites for landfills. This unproductive means of continuing weathering post extraction is detrimental to the cities which once worked from these sites. Even though federal order was put into place to maintain that these sites remain safe and non toxic, due to The Surface
