Fragments from an Atlas of Time Investigating and challenging fossil fictions through aesthetic map-making

Abstract

This essay explores how certain societal narratives, or "fossil fictions”, shape and reinforce our dependence on fossil fuels (and vice versa), influencing architecture and urban development. These fictions, e.g. the notion of the nuclear family, have driven suburban sprawl, individual car dependency, and consumer culture, solidifying unsustainable living patterns.

My artistic research project investigates and challenges these norms through aesthetic map-making, endeavoring to reinterpret spatial relationships and reimagine potential futures. Here maps are viewed not just as tools for navigation, but as powerful narrative devices that shape perceptions of space, and society. The project aims to create an "atlas of time" to explore the past, present, and possible futures by reframing how urban and suburban space is perceived in the context of climate crisis. Ultimately, it calls for dynamic, imaginative storytelling to confront and transform entrenched environmental narratives.

Keywords: fossil fiction, nuclear family, aesthetic map-making