Anthropocene Landscapes: Aesthetics Between Pollution and Inflammation

The article discusses the issue of the Anthropocene and pollution from the perspective of aesthetics. The initial part analyses the tendency of the visual representations of the Anthropocene to aestheticise the crisis rather than serve as a mobilizing factor. It is argued that this tendency has its roots in modernity and has been influenced profoundly by the Western tradition of landscape painting. The second part focuses on the impact the perspective of landscape painting has on our perception of nature and the environment. The third part analyses the concept of landscape as a multidimensional process and reflects on the limitations of this approach, possibly based on a symbolic classification of a territory. The article concludes with a proposal to rethink the concept of a landscape in the context of the Anthropocene, thus moving beyond the inside/outside distinction and considering the coherence between the planet (pollution) and the singular body (inflammation) instead.