Hemkendreis & Schlechtriemen: Greta from Ice: Social and Artistic Figurations of the Climate Debate

Abstract: Greta Thunberg is a prominent figure in the public debate on climate change. She not only gives a face to the youth movement „Fridays for Future“, but has also become a figurative – albeit controversial – point of reference in the worldwide debate on how to deal with climate change. Her communicative function for public self-understanding and the affective references to her show that Greta Thunberg can be seen as a social figure through which ›burning issues‹ of contemporary society are negotiated. This means not only ecological issues, but also the relationship between democracy and activism, the generational question, and – equally important – the relationship between humans and nature. The aim of this article is to understand the ways in which ecological issues are figuratively discussed within the public debate. Therefore, we analyze forms of person-related representations with three approaches: through social figures, in order to capture the social issues involved; by deepening the analyses through an art historical perspective, focusing on the aesthetic formulas and the media forms involved; and through the focus on affective dynamics.