Aesthetics of the Anthropocene and Social Representations. A Case Study on Venice' Exceptional High Tides in November 2019

This research investigates the social representations of exceptional high tides occurred in Venice (Italy) between 12th and 18th November 2019 through the analysis of YouTube contents. Those events could be considered as a local manifestation of Anthropocene, and therefore could be linked to its representations. Moreover, after a summary of aesthetic literature on Anthropocene, this research aims at considering how aesthetics contribute to the definition of social representation of exceptional high tides. Twenty-nine YouTube videos were collected and analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. The results show that there are several intersections between aesthetics of Anthropocene and social representations of the event analyzed, with particular concern for themes “sublime” and “future as a threat”, and their relation to attribution of responsibility processes. These findings reflect an elaboration of the event based on aestheticization and trends of “deresponsibilization”.