Working group 2

The visibility/invisibility of oil workshop is devoted to the production
of an academic text focusing on how oil’s visibility and invisibility affect
the ways it is represented culturally and perceived socially.

Workshop leader: Alejandra Rodríguez-Remedi (GB
Participants: Pit Arnold (AT), Simone Gingrich (AT), Jordan Kinder (CA),  David Misch (AT), Arianna Mondin (IT), George Osodi (NG), Benjamin Steininger (AT)

Workshop 2, devoted to the production of an academic text about the visibility and invisibility of crude oil, began its multiple-perspective reflection on the topic with a discussion about what arts-based research entails (giving participants a sense of the workshop’s creative scope) and what the substance of oil consists of (particularly how an understanding of its characteristics as a substance may illuminate further reflection about its visibility and invisibility).

Both Nigerian photographer George Osodi’s ongoing photographic project on the impact of the oil industry on the Niger Delta and PhD candidate (and member of Reflecting Oil’s Leoben team) Pit Arnold’s research on CT scans of rock samples (which introduced delta Δ as a difference operator into the group discussion) played a vital role in delineating a fruitful art-science ‘territory’ throughout the workshop, inviting participants to explore oil’s visibility and invisibility creatively. During the colloquium, participants produced outlines of preliminary ideas about how to explore this common ground through the prism of their respective specialisms (petroleum engineering, petroleum geology, social ecology, art, environmental humanities, architecture and history) and are currently working on the final versions of their respective contributions.

While the workshop was not accessible to the general public, the colloquium results will be published in book form in 2023.