Field
Where we do research and look, listen and learn about the things into which we inquire.
Oil Sands Bitumen for Asphalt Binder: A Technical Assessment
A report on the technical and market considerations surrounding oil sands bitumen formatted for asphalt binder - part of the project Energy Media: The Politics of Solid-Phase Bitumen.
Energysheds
In June 2021, the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (OEERE), a division of the United States’ Department of Energy, announced a project investigating the practical potential of the concept of “energysheds.”[i] The project aims to examine “how locally generated renewable energy sources can offer communities energy independence, security, and resilience.”
Maintaining the Rule of Experts?
In this note, originally published on the Energy Humanities site, Ayesha Vemuri reflects on the legacy of Timothy Mitchell’s Carbon Democracy (Verso, 2011) and Rule of Experts (Univ. of California Press, 2002) for thinking about expertise and the coloniality of climate crisis.
Former Ericsson Data Centre
Surrounded by logistics centers, warehouses, and office blocks, and situated conspicuously close to an energy substation, this building stands out against the otherwise drab landscape.
Fieldwork in Covid times
In the middle of March 2020, I was in New Delhi, India, attempting to squeeze in a week’s worth of fieldwork before I returned to Canada. I had originally planned to stay for several more weeks, visiting not only Delhi but also Assam, where I hoped to conduct preliminary fieldwork by initiating conversations and building relationships with people and organizations working on flood control and relief.
Venture capital cities & DIY punk spaces
A map created from Florida's list of the top 15 North American cities for venture capital tech investment in 2015 that shows a small handful of the DIY punk spaces, that is, underground, community-run venues hosting a majority of punk shows.
Nest Building
Planet in Focus is Canada’s largest environmental film festival taking place annually in Toronto, and aiming to bring together filmmakers, activists, and community members to facilitate conversation around environmental issues.
The Common Rub
My friend Rhys Williams, a professor of literature who is wondering what he is supposed to do now, passed along a story that depicts a future in which environmental conditions make exposure to the surface of the earth deadly, at least without a respirator. Under these conditions, academic work takes place exclusively online and on-screen, mediated by a system referred to as “the Machine.”
“Walking Sounds Good”: Through the Trans-European Motorway
“Walking sounds good.” Yusuf took a long drag on his cigarette and looked off into the distance towards the Küçükçekmece lake just beyond the reeds. I can tell he was suspicious of my research. I was following a walking route called Between Two Seas, first created by artist Serkan Taycan in 2013.
Killbros Model 350 Gravity Box
What is it? Who owns it? How long has it been here? What was here before? These four questions opened Lisa Parks’ keynote presentation at the ECREA Infrastructures and Inequalities Conference I attended in Helsinki last October.
On Alarm – Reaction
On July 15, 2016, a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces attempted to topple the government, allegedly under the orders of the US-based cleric and former ally of the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP), Fetullah Gülen.
Rethinking the Saint Lawrence Seaway
This project focuses on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and the media coverage surrounding its construction, in order to reframe the infrastructure project in light of the expropriation of land in the Mohawk community of Kahnawà:ke.
P’tit Train du Nord?
On a particularly hot day this summer, a few friends and I decided to drive to a swim spot near Val-David. We pulled into a parking lot and began the 20 minute walk to the river. The trail we followed was called “P’tit Train du Nord,” and a large information poster on the side of the path informed us that we were walking on what had once been a railway.
Life Cycle of Carbon Fibers
A report on the life cycle of carbon fibres spun from oil sands bitumen - part of the project Energy Media: The Politics of Solid-Phase Bitumen.
Foam Finger
Foam hands are a petrocultural artefact, an item that has not been produced since 2025. This one celebrated the Montreal Canadiens – known colloquially as “the Habs” – Canada’s most decorated professional ice hockey franchise. They were made of polyurethane foam, a major class of polymers conventionally derived from petroleum products.
The Automation Tapes
In my research into early forms of radio automation—a set of technologies that help select and sequence recorded sound ahead of its broadcast—I have been spending a lot of time looking through trade magazines from the 1950s and 1960s. One lesson these articles have for us is that the practice and meaning of "automation.”
Glen Canyon Dam
“There was literally nothing here before the dam.” So said the genial guide during our visit to the Glen Canyon Dam in the spring of 2019. Tucked away in a corridor leading to the restrooms in the Visitors Centre, a reproduction of the Normal Rockwell painting…
Strolling an Urban Limit: Serkan Taycan’s Shell
“I felt that it wasn’t me approaching the city, but the city was coming towards me”. Istanbul based artist Serkan Taycan describes his experience of walking alongside the urban periphery of the city in these words.
Rewriting Article 6
A prospectus contributed to the “Mont Pèlerin Rewrite” project of the HKW Shape of a Practice event. It refers to the emissions-trading market established by the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.