Podcast Summary:
New Books Network – Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, "The Hydrocene: Eco-Aesthetics in the Age of Water" (Routledge, 2024)
Date: October 11, 2025
Host: Gargi
Guest: Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris
Overview
In this episode, Gargi interviews Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, a Swedish-Australian curator, writer, and eco-aesthetics researcher, about her groundbreaking book The Hydrocene: Eco-Aesthetics in the Age of Water. The conversation explores Bronwyn's concept of the "Hydrocene"—a new epoch centered on water—her development of "hydroartistic methods," and the vital role of contemporary art in reimagining human-water relations amid climate crisis. The discussion travels through different bodies of water and their cultural, political, and ecological meanings, with a particular emphasis on shifting narratives from domination and extraction to connection, resistance, and embodied experience.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Origins and Motivations Behind the Book
[02:20-04:41]
-
Bronwyn locates her inspiration in the recent surge of contemporary art engaging critically with water, environment, and climate.
-
She positions her work as a bridge between artistic practice and water theory, mentioning thinkers such as Astrida Neimanis and Cecilia Chen.
-
Bronwyn frames her project as a response to the need for new, collaborative answers and narratives about human-water relations, moving away from extractive logics.
Notable Quote:
“For me, the book really needed to be written because it's about shifting our kind of dominant narratives of our human water relations as they currently stand.”
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [03:55]
2. The Concept of the Hydrocene
[04:41-06:32]
-
Bronwyn defines "Hydrocene" as her coined neologism—an epochal term positioning water, rather than humans or industry, as the central force shaping our times.
-
She explains the Hydrocene as a challenge to the Anthropocene, centering the agency, materiality, and knowledge of water.
-
The idea is informed by calls from T.J. Demos and others for the arts and humanities to disrupt science-dominated narratives about epochs.
Notable Quote:
"It's been an important idea to kind of bring to the fore the idea of an age. So the age of water as this kind of conceptual, embodied epoch that's... leaky and circulatory..."
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [05:43]
3. Hydroartistic Methods—Art and Theory in Active Relation
[06:32-11:38]
-
Bronwyn introduces "hydroartistic methods" as an analytic model tying together artwork and theory—rooted in the idea that water is not a background, but an active participant or collaborator in art.
-
She is inspired by Neimanis's notion of hydrologics: thinking about what water knows and teaches, and seeing water as possessing agency.
-
Bronwyn describes deliberately using active verbs (like "tidying," "waving," "submerging") in each chapter to embody the relentless activity and movement of water, and to make theory dynamic and participatory.
-
The approach seeks to make theory accessible and grounded, dissolving the distance between bodies/thought, art/theory, subject/object.
Notable Quote:
“Water itself was actually contributing to these artworks and actually bringing its own knowledges and understandings and agency into the works.”
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [08:01]“Theory is like a long conversation that you can get involved with through across space and time... you don't need to feel these theories are up on a pedestal.”
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [10:06]
4. The "Natural Cultural Water Crisis" Lens
[11:38-15:11]
-
Bronwyn unpacks her phrase "natural cultural water crisis" to highlight how the water crisis is both ecological and deeply cultural—a crisis of imagination, not just resources.
-
She credits Amitav Ghosh (on the "cultural climate crisis") and Donna Haraway (on “natureculture”) for inspiring her integrated approach.
-
She notes that the crisis is not remote, but embodied, enmeshed, and evolving, lifting the binary between nature and culture, and alluding to new, digital forms of water crisis (e.g., AI and data centers' water consumption).
Notable Quote:
"It's not the fault of artists or writers that we're not able to deal with this, but it's the idea that we're culturally kind of limited in our understandings of what this climate crisis looks like..."
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [13:15]
5. Bodies of Water—Artistic and Political Case Studies
The River as Site of Resistance
[15:11-21:23]
-
Bronwyn discusses why the river chapter is especially political: artists see rivers as unsettled zones, sites of blocking, diverting, and resistance, not just flow.
-
She cites the Australian First Nations artist/writer Jas Money ("a river is always a river") and Badger Bates, who reveals how colonial damming disrupts Indigenous water relationships.
-
The river—politically, artistically, ecologically—is “always a river,” even if manipulated or absent; water persists, resists, and reveals lines of injustice.
Notable Quote:
"Even in absence, even in destruction, the water is still in the atmosphere, it's still moving through, it's still in memory, it's still embodied."
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [19:39]
The Swamp—Ambiguity, Capital, and New Ecologies
[23:11-31:19]
-
Swamps present a challenge to modern capitalist logic due to their ambiguity, inefficiency, and brackishness.
-
Bronwyn discusses the historical bias against swamps ("dark, diseased... monster kind of world building") and notes the linguistic shift to "wetlands."
-
She shares anecdotes about artistic engagements with swamps as places of both awe and toxicity, teaching humility and complicating ideas of nature as always harmonious.
-
Specific projects like the Swamp Pavilion at Venice Biennale and community swamp works in Sweden are highlighted.
Notable Quotes:
"From my understanding, the problem with the swamp is that it's seen as inefficient. And I think it doesn't sit within our clear categories that we want water to exist in."
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [25:45]"They're not designed for our terrestrial bodies."
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [29:55]
The Ocean—Oneness, Particularities, and Ownership
[31:19-38:13]
-
Bronwyn discusses the concept of “one ocean,” inspired by Oceanian thinkers and environmental humanities scholars.
-
She describes the idea as a conceptual prompt, not a flattening of real differences, and stresses the fluid, boundary-evading character of water: "the water is not interested... it's constantly in movement."
-
This oceanic thinking resists colonial boundaries and ownership, instead embracing planetary, place-based difference and First Nations cosmologies.
-
The threads running through all water bodies are fluidity, resistance to ownership, and moving beyond anthropocentric narratives.
Notable Quote:
“We are actually participating in this planetary hydro, social hydrocycle, hydro socialist movement... it’s part of this planetary circulation and very ancient and future-focused circulation.”
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [37:40]
6. Future Directions & Ongoing Research
[38:19-41:07]
-
Bronwyn is expanding work on the Hydrocene and contributing to a research project called "Digitizing and Datafying the four Elements," focusing on the role of emerging technologies (AI, digital infrastructure) in shaping environmental systems.
-
She is especially attentive to ecological impacts, such as the “digital thirst” for water by data centers, and the intersections of digital and environmental crises.
-
She continues to weave art, theory, and activism across regions and scales.
Notable Quote:
“It's a scary time to be looking at it, but it's also a really fascinating time... So, yeah, I'm really enjoying this bridging of practice and theory and hoping to continue to expand beyond the Nordic, Oceanic, Oceanian perspectives as well, because there are so many other water stories that I also need to better understand.”
— Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris [40:15]
Memorable Moments & Quotes
-
On the purpose of the book:
"It's about shifting our kind of dominant narratives of our human water relations as they currently stand." [03:55]
-
On active verbs and embodied theory:
“I love the idea that we could keep that kind of active space within theory.” [10:38]
-
On the river’s political force:
"The river... is very overtly political because the artists engaging with the river are often seeing it as a zone for resistance." [16:12]
-
On swamps as sites of ambiguity:
"Swamps kind of really sit in this kind of dark, diseased kind of place where people have been, you know, talking about the swamps as this space where there’s this smells that can send you into crazy worlds." [26:53]
-
On the ocean as both concept and place:
"We’re all in the same water, but we’re not all experiencing the same thing." [35:20]
-
On moving beyond ownership:
"I think what the water and the artists teach us." [38:13]
Important Timestamps
- [02:20] Origins and motivation for the Hydrocene
- [04:56] Defining "Hydrocene" and why it matters
- [06:32] Linking art methods to hydrocene theory
- [08:49] Choice of active verbs in hydroartistic method
- [11:38] The lens of the "natural cultural water crisis"
- [15:11] Rivers: Resistance and First Nations perspectives
- [23:11] Swamps: Capitalism, ambiguity, and artistic perspectives
- [31:19] Oceans: Conceptual oneness and the complexity of difference
- [38:19] Current projects and future research on water, technology, and art
Conclusion
Dr. Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris’s The Hydrocene challenges us to rethink water as an active, agentic force and to recognize the deep cultural and political dimensions of ecological crises. Her work foregrounds the essential role of contemporary artists in reshaping human-water relations, highlights the importance of vibrant, place-based perspectives, and offers a dynamic, hopeful vision for eco-aesthetics in a time of planetary crisis.
Download The Hydrocene (Open Access) for more on these themes.