Experiencing the Anthropocene The Contested Heritage of Climate Breakdown

This chapter draws together two significant trends in recent heritage discourse and practice that have yet to be considered simultaneously in any great depth. The first concerns the rapid upsurge in artistic, museological and heritage-led engagements with issues related to global warming, extinction, the Anthropocene and the broader ‘climate emergency’ that contains and underpins all of these. While debates on this topic have been ongoing across the sector for some time now (see Cameron, Hodge and Salazar 2013; Harvey and Perry 2015; L’Internationale 2016), recent years have seen a significant shift in the urgency and prominence of various declarations, cultural programmes, manifestos and future strategies linking the work of museums, galleries, conservation bodies and heritage organisations to the question of climate change. In particular, initiatives such as Culture Declares Emergency and the Climate Heritage Network have sought to shift the discussion away from concerns over endangerment and loss to explore the different ways in which heritage, broadly defined, might support wider strategies of ‘climate action’(eg ICOMOS 2019). This chapter contributes to these debates through the lens of critical heritage thinking and practice (Harrison 2013; Winter 2013; Sterling 2020a), which allows for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between heritage and climate change to emerge.