JELLYFISH VS. NUCLEAR SHIP and Other Animal Strike Tales, 2022
series of 8, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame
We are everywhere.
We are the 99%.
Occupy everything.
Decentralized convergence.
The animals are in revolt and just not telling us. Why should they, it is their revolution stages against the human technological world that weighs so heavily on this planet. With eyes to see and ears to hear, we can notice the revolution happening at different speeds, locations, and modalities so as to baffle human understanding.
In January 2006, one of the largest naval vessels in history, the U.S. Navy Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan is rendered incapacitated by spineless, rudderless jellyfish who go with the flow straight into the bowels of the military vessel and jam the cooling system of its nuclear engines. These markers of animal resistance make us rethink our dominion over the globe. They have per- ceived, felt, and moved through the world in ways we did not foresee, since their world is radically different from our own. And this difference is their opportunity to jam our cultural apparatus and machinic defenses.
The revolution hacks the physicality of our technologies and our bodies. An eagle takes down a drone, a shark bites through underwater high-speed fiber-optic cables, ants infest electronics and short-circuit computers. They do not see our technologies as modes of easing human life. Rather, these objects are novel problems in their world. They respond from the way they sense these objects. Sharks may be attuned to the electromagnetic fields strumming in currents or they may just be curious about the large eel-like rubbery black mass. Ants feel the warmth of electronics and want to snuggle up to them. Birds don’t like the loud, flapping-like, animal-sized drones that seem like an annoying insect or predator.
In their perceptual worlds, our technologies and machinic prosthetics are invasive beings. As we fashion our world, our objects in a shared earth reshape animal worlds as well. Then the animals are refashioning our fashioning to fit their own needs and wants. Animals rub up against our attempts to ward them off, and they do so in ways that expose vulnerabilities in our systems. In a seemingly nonlinguistic but intensive mode of communicating with us, they are making us aware of a larger- than-human earth.
text by Ron Broglio
Ron Broglio is Associate Professor of English and Senior Scholar in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. He is the author of Animal Revolution 2022, Surface Encounters: Thinking with Animals 2011 and Art and Technologies of the Picturesque: British Art, Poetry, and Instruments 2008.
Images:
JELLYFISH VS. NUCLEAR SHIP
Once upon a time,
Jellyfish Swarm Incapacitates Nuclear-Powered Supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan,
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 44 x 33 x 2.5 in
CAT VS. INTERNET
In a faraway land,
Cats Utilize Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite Dishes as Lounging Area,
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 33 x 44 x 2.5 in
SHARK VS. GLOBAL INTERNET
Far out in the wide sea,
Sharks Taking Down the Global Internet, Google Confirms,
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 35 x 33 x 2.5 in
GOOSE VS. PLANE
One beautiful day,
Flock of Geese Strike Boeing 777,
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 40 x 39.5 x 1.5 in
SQUIRREL VS ELECTRICAL WIRE
There is a magical kingdom where,
Energy Newsroom Names Squirrel “King of the Power Outage,”
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 33 x 39 x 2.5 in
EAGLE VS. EGLE
One fine evening,
Bald Eagle Takes Out EGLE Drone,
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 35.5 x 30 x 1.5 in
BEAR VS. SURVEILLANCE CAMERA
A long time ago,
Bear Eats Rural Family’s Security Camera,
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 44 x 44 x 2.5 in
ANT VS. ELECTRIC FIELD
Let’s begin another tale:
Ants Attracted to Electric Fields, Nest in Circuits,
the end.
2022, watercolor and watercolor pencil on wood panel, artist’s wooden frame, 27.5 x 31 x 2.5 in