Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Cogent Arts and Humanities
Publication Date
9-16-2026
Abstract
This paper explores how speculative practices engage with evolving ideas on human extinction, space cosmology, post-humanism, and sustainability through expanded photography. Focusing on two projects—Here There Are Lions by Ioannis Galanopoulos Papavasileiou and Alien Landscapes by Ioannis Kontos—it examines how these works reframe themes of planetary precarity, space migration, and ecological collapse. Using ‘verifictional’ methods, both series employ hybrid digital techniques and AI-generated imagery as visual provocations challenging anthropocentric views of survival and progress. Here There Are Lions envisions space as a site of human expatriation and cosmic hope, while Alien Landscapes depicts post-natural terrains shaped by AI and environmental instability. Together, they present speculative futures where landscape becomes a shifting argument rather than fixed geography. Blending art, planetary science, critical futures theory, and cultural geography, these works question sustainability, extinction aesthetics, and visions of life beyond Earth. Positioned as speculative interventions, the series blur boundaries between documentation and simulation, landscape and ideology. The paper argues they expand visual discourse on the limits of Earth-bound existence and calls for an interdisciplinary rethinking of visual art—not just as witness, but as a method for theorizing alternative futures in an era of planetary transformation.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Volume
13
Issue
1
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities
Keywords
Expanded photography, human extinction, place, space visualization, sustainability
Scopus ID
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Papavasileiou, Ioannis Galanopoulos; Kontos, Ioannis; and Hulbert, Shane, "Futurities: human extinction, space visualization and the other side of sustainability" (2026). All Works. 8435.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/8435
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series