Cycles of Circulation: Carbon and Eco­logical Sinofuturism

In December 2019, Cycles of Circulation researchers Karolina Sobecka and Jamie Allen undertake a teaching and research collaboration with designer/researcher Francesca Valsecchi at Tongji University Shanghai and her students.
Undeniably, some of the world’s most profound environmental changes are under way in China, as it is both highly impactful in terms of emmissions, as well as proactive in attempts to mitigate its own impact. As such, China serves as an integrative site of engagement in Cycles of Circulation, and the Tongji University trip serves as the first of a number of field visits to China during the project. We will initially explore with students and researchers, designers and artists, the cycles and circulation of carbon, as propagated in and through art and design that country.
Specific areas of collaborative work include visits to current carbon capture and sequestration projects ongoing in China, as well as discussions with burgeoning experiments in carbon markets throughout the country. It is work that follows on from visits Allen and Sobecka made during the summer of 2018. An outcome of this work-visit will be the publication of “The Carbon Catalogue”, a set of collaborative, collated writings and materials that sample contemporary global carbon cycle and environmental management, in China and beyond.