Book presentation and artist talk

03 Jun 2025, 17:00
Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab (AIL)/ Otto Wagner-Postsparkasse

In our global society, oil is one of the most important resources of the modern age. In the face of rapidly
advancing global warming, we are facing a radical transformation into a post-fossil fuel era.
Understanding our current culture, which is shaped through and through by oil, is an important
foundation for a successful transition to a sustainable future.

The publication Reflecting Oil, which is based on the artistic research project of the same name at the
University of Applied Arts Vienna (Angewandte) under the lead of the artist Ernst Logar, deals with the
substance crude oil in connection with various concepts and phenomena of our petromodern era.

The starting point and basis of the research project are interdisciplinary workshops and crude oil
experiments in cooperation between the Angewandte and the Montanuniversität Leoben (Department
of Geoscience, formerly Department of Petroleum Engineering), the Petrocultures Research Group
(University of Alberta (CA)), and international experts from a wide range of fields.

Reflections on crude oil in petroleum sciences and the humanities usually take place without direct
physical experience of the substance. The project is a collection of art-based research that includes
practical action and holistic observation of the raw material in the context of petroculture. This research
approach focuses on sensory perceptions, aesthetic and symbolic interpretations, and provides insights
at the levels of multisensory and practical knowledge.

The present publication, Reflecting Oil, summarizes the research project in all its facets over four chapters
following the project structure and the formats used to examine the research process. In the form of over
20 contributions by artists, artistic researchers, and experts from the fields of environmental and
geosciences, the book provides a broad spectrum of perspectives on petroleum that relate to each other
and reflect aspects of petroculture.

Reflecting Oil is based on interdisciplinary crude oil investigations and reflections from the collaboration
between art and science, and provides new knowledge for the necessary social, cultural, and
technological change toward sustainable energy sources.

Reflecting Oil
Ernst Logar (ed.)
De Gruyter, Edition Angewandte, 2025
ISBN: 978-3-68924-253-4
e-ISBN: 978-3-68924-046-2
Language: English
Price: EUR 32

https://www.degruyterbrill.com/Reflecting Oil

Artist talk:

03 Jun 2025, 17:00
Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab (AIL)/ Otto Wagner-Postsparkasse

Alexander Damianisch (Head of Support Art and Research, University of Applied Arts Vienna)
in conversation with Ernst Logar (editor, research project manager and artist, University of
Applied Arts Vienna)

https://ail.angewandte.at/program/reflecting-oil-book-presentation