Imagining More-than-human Futures Through Contemporary Arts Practices

Western culture is (re)developing an increasing awareness of the more-than-human web that stabilises and sustains our existence. Within this moment, this article asks: What themes within environmental futures do contemporary artists see as pressing through their work? To address this, this article draws upon a dataset of 205 artworks and artist’s statements, from artists whose practices engage with concerns of environmental futures, and in particular, what is being termed here as more-than-human futures . The article finds that artist’s environmental and existential worries, and hopes, are ingrained in the aesthetics and narratives they produce. This article contributes these imagined more-than-human futures as concerns of Futures Studies, due to their potential impacts on human engagements with planetary concerns, and their ability to help point culture towards a more interspecies-inclusive future.