The Enabling Materialities of the Charcoal Suit

This article focuses on the artist Hanna Saarikoski’s performance C and the charcoal suit that becomes a co-performer in this work. The title of the performance, C, is a symbol for the chemical element carbon, which relates to 1) the main material of the suit, carbonized willow branches, and 2) the human ecological impact on the planet, often called the “carbon footprint”. In this performance, Saarikoski walked through the heart of the city of Turku wearing a bulky black suit, laden with more than one thousand charcoal sticks. I argue that performance C addresses the human-induced environmental emergency by sensually politicizing it and that the charcoal suit actively contributes to this politicizing process by generating sounds, interacting with the surroundings, and thus enabling surprising encounters. In this article, approaching the topic from the perspectives of new materialism, political performance art, and costume studies, I will analyze the ways in which the charcoal suit works as a co-performer and thus contributes to politicizing the human impact on the environment.