We believe that part of us knows already that we are in a huge mess, but because we do not know what to do or how to sit with this knowledge, we prefer to avoid “connecting the dots” out of a fear that we will be overwhelmed with information and also anxiety, hopelessness and grief. However, unless we find a way of sitting with this “collective shit” together, of learning to compost it collaboratively and of transforming it into new soil for something else to grow from, we will drown collectively in it.

The two collections of resources below (from arts and pop culture) expose different types of “shit” we need to learn to face and to compost. The first set is a collection of artistic works that try to expose the shit we would prefer to hide. The second is a collection of videos that explore the difficulties of communicating what people prefer not to see.   Take a moment to sit with the critiques presented in these collections and to consider your role in facing and communicating what most people would prefer not to see.

Collection 1

Museum of London’s “fatberg” display here.

Pyramids of garbage by Bahia Shehab here.

Rhythm 0 by Marina Abramovic here .

Follow the leaders by Isaac Cordal here.

Collection 2

RSA animate First as tragedy, then as farce, Slavoj Zizek here.

Wasteminster: a Downing Street Disaster here.

Life on our Planet, David Attenborough (Netflix), trailer here