100 Atmospheres: first of the OHP Seed Books

We are delighted to announce the first of the OHP Seed Books: 100 Atmospheres by the Meco Network, a collectively written book/breath for the troubled present.

100 Atmospheres is available at http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/one-hundred-atmospheres/

Published with assistance from https://theseedbox.se/

At a time when climate panic obscures clear thought, 100 Atmospheres is an invitation to think differently. Through speculative, poetic, and provocative texts, thirteen writers and artists have come together to reflect on human relationships with other species and the planet. The process of creating 100 Atmospheres was shared, with works (written, photographic and drawn) created individually and collectively. To think differently, we need to practice differently. The book contains thirteen chapters threaded amidst one hundred co-authored micro-essays. In an era shaped by critical ecological transformation 100 Atmospheres dwells in the deep past and the troubled present to imagine future ways of being and becoming.

"This collection is simply wonderful. Truly. The text manages to be performative and pedagogic at once (it enacts its content through its form; it teaches). It invites extended contemplation (such gravity, the fate of the planet and more) and then tempts with moments of distraction and slivers of insight (and sometimes light humor/chunked conversation). There is so much of a world (several worlds, and *this* one) in this collection.”

Greg Seigworth – Professor of Communication Studies in the Department of Communication and Theatre, Millersville University

“100 Atmospheres is an ambitious and unique collection. Driven by an experimental spirit, it beautifully articulates, in multiple voices, our current planetary concerns. The book’s vignettes, embracing a plethora of genres, styles and voices, challenge the reader in her intellectual assumptions and theoretical affinities. The theoretical-writerly ‘compost’ produced as a result of the authors’ joint efforts takes the form of a powerful narrative about the polysemic concept of the ‘atmosphere’ - which stands for breath, vapour, weather, climate, sensation, affect and relationality. Inviting the reader into their already crowded conversation, the book becomes a hospitable space for learning how to live with multiple voices, viewpoints and agencies.”

Joanna Zylinska – Professor of New Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London