“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Monday, September 23, 2013

Hyperobjects Day

Hello! 

You are receiving this because you are in some way connected with me and my book Hyperobjects, which is due out on September 23

Hyperobjects are things such as climate and radiation, not to mention Earth itself. Things that massively outscale us, things that are massively distributed in time and space. 

Rather than do a book launch--one place, one time, didn't seem appropriate--I decided to call 9.23 Hyperobjects Day. 

We will celebrate Hyperobjects Day in a necessarily rolling, phased way, because we are living on a gigantic thing that rotates. 

We will celebrate Hyperobjects Day in a contemplative manner. 

I wondered what the simplest thing to do might be to acknowledge the looming presence of at least one of our beloved hyperobjects. 

On Hyperobjects Day, on the hour of 10am wherever you are, I want you to take your shoes off for one minute. 

When you take your shoes off, you notice you are on Earth, for a moment. Two of the familiar “tools” in your world (your shoes) malfunction, as it were. What is under your feet becomes a little bit clear. 

No particular thoughts or actions are required apart from the removal of your shoes. 

Yours, 
Tim Morton”

1 comment:

Sara Manser said...

Australian time and very warm Queensland weather, I have had shoes off for weeks now...I will celebrate by walking in the mangrove mud, inspired, while continuing PhD writing...in my head