Culture and the Climate Crisis: An Emotive Transformation of Openness Art as a Foundation for Reconceptualising the Anthropocene

The climate crisis is not just a problem of the environment, it is a problem of the senses and a questioning of the ethics of existence. This paper critically reconceptualises the notion of the ‘Anthropocene’ and deconstructs the politics of universalist violence and ecological imbalance hidden within it. Based on this, it proposes a philosophical perspective that art should function not as a tool of reproduction but as a training ground for sensitivity. Focusing in particular on the concept of ‘Openness Arts’, it draws attention to the ways in which art relationally generates presence in entanglements with technology, the body, and non-human actors. Sensitivity is not just an emotional response, but an ethical capacity to dwell in the suffering of the other, and art should work as an exercise in sensitivity. This thesis uses examples from Forensic Architecture, Cooking Sections, and SUPERFLEX to flesh out the philosophical possibilities and practical sensibilities of such art, and proposes a transfer of ontological empathy to art education.