A Great Green Desert: Into the Pit

A publication in a series of pamphlets produced by Deep Time Chicago. DEEP TIME CHICAGO is an art/research/activism initiative formed in the wake of the Anthropocene Curriculum program at HKW in Berlin, Germany. The initiative’s goal is to explore one core idea: humanity as a geological agency, capable of disrupting the earth system and inscribing present modes of existence into deep time. By knitting together group readings, guided walks, lectures, panels, screenings, performances, publications and exhibitions, we hope to develop a public research trajectory, offering a variety of formats where Chicago area inhabitants can grapple with the crucial questions of global ecological change.

This text draws on a body of work collectively titled "A Great Green Desert," by Ryan Griffis and Sarah Ross, that documents the social and ecological impacts of extractive, mono-crop agriculture in the US Midwest and Central Brazil. Research and production of this work was partially supported by: The Humanities Without Walls consortium, based at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities; the College of Fine & Applied Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; The Joan Mitchell Center.