The almanac projects: seasons experienced through the material world

Abstract

This paper explores the almanac as a medium for enacting a vital materialist practice. It begins by asking: what elements do we incorporate into the ways we think about weather, climates and seasons? What other possibilities exist if we consider weather and seasons that include non-human perspectives? What are the implications of these ways of thinking?  I draw upon Jane Bennett’s “vital materialism” in considering the experience of seasons as human and non-human assemblages of activity. I present my own almanac projects as an active and creative engagement with the living and non-living worlds participating in seasonal changes. The paper argues that the almanac as a medium has the potential to make perceptible an inclusive and encompassing ecology that constitutes our multifaceted experience of the seasons.