UC Berkeley

This article undertakes a re-examination of the concept of “environmental media” by synthesizing insights from media theory, new materialism, and object-oriented ontology. Countering conventional conceptions of media as either mere conduits for information or instruments of human dominion over nature, it advances an alternative definition. Through a dialectical engagement with the philosophies of Martin Heidegger and Graham Harman, the paper posits media as intermediary entities that function as interfaces for encounters among diverse and heterogeneous actants. It is through these interfaces that entities partially disclose and “unsecure” themselves to one another, frequently engendering uncanny and unforeseen consequences. The article further introduces “attunement” as a pivotal conceptual lens for apprehending how disparate agencies—human and nonhuman alike—interact and co-become within these medial spaces, notwithstanding their inherent differences and the frictions emergent from their encounters. By analyzing exemplary works of land art, such as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, and by mediating the theoretical frameworks of scholars including John Durham Peters and Jane Bennett, this paper demonstrates how environmental media can operate as platforms for polyphonic co-becoming. Within such platforms, negotiation, instability, and repair are prioritized over control and static representation. Ultimately, this reconceptualization of media challenges entrenched anthropocentric biases and charts a course toward a more ecological and collaborative comprehension of our entangled world.