Epoch wars: negotiating artistic agency in deep and shallow time

ABSTRACT A conference of human beings known as the Anthropocene Working Group has the power to name the next phase of Earth’s geological calendar. In response, the artistic research project Epoch Wars by Pony Express calls for a mobilization of creative practice to redefine the terms on which we negotiate naming the future. Breaking the binary between science and storytelling, Epoch Wars is a body of experimental performance and digital work that advocates for the world-building power of collective decision-making in both deep and shallow time. This document outlines the making of this project, as indexed to the debate around what to name Earth’s present epoch of geological time. It begins by examining the history of this debate and the role of artists within it, before introducing the world of the artwork Epoch Wars by Pony Express through a description of key research experiments and outcomes. Provisional findings of the project are discussed, offered as operating principles for possible alternate future conceptualization.