TOXICOCENE

Informed by Heather Davis’ exploration of toxicity and extending on proposals for epochal names proposed by Haraway, Moore and Malms, ‘toxicocene’ is offered as a definition that both refers to the ideological toxicity of dominant cultures, the pervasive destruction of multispecies well-being it has empowered, and the accumulative, ubiquitous contamination of all life-systems that are their consequence. All earthly life is currently unified in its exposure to toxicogenic cultures both intentional and incidental, local, or distant. It reflects a recognition that the human-made chemicals, plastics, and other materials have infiltrated every aspect of our environment, from the depths of the oceans to the air we breathe, and have led to the mutation and transformation of living beings in unforeseen ways. The concept of toxicocene points to a post-normal and post-human future, characterized by forms that are less familiar, challenging the traditional notions of what constitutes life, and what kind of existence is possible. It is intended as a neutral term, emphasising the need to acknowledge the reality of the present and to generate adaptive visions of what might come next. Toxicocene thinking encourages us to move beyond the binaries of nature/culture, human/non-human, and to recognize the complexity and entanglement of our shared existence in a world shaped by the byproducts of industrialisation and capitalism. This notion of shared and ubiquitous toxicity foregrounds the sympoetic conditions of life and foregrounds the current state of planetary condition of imbalance, in which all forces, flows and entities are united in multi-scalar alterations and mutations, regardless of participation in, or immediate proximity to anthropocentric ideologies or capitalist cultures. Adding to discourse on contamination, this definition contextualises the epoch in a collective condition of toxicity to reckon with the trouble of contaminated times and speculative on what might emerge, or flourish in its ruins.