A joint project of the Petrocultures Research Group and the Grierson Chair in Communication Studies, McGill University.

What social conditions would be required to initiate and sustain an energy transition animated by solarity – by both the energies of the sun (solar) and the collective energies of bodies working together (solidarity)?

What can the history of diverse cultures of solarity teach us about this possibility? What infrastructures, architectures, institutions, practices, and relationships would be implicated in solarity? And what will solarity look, feel, and sound like?

These questions guided the curriculum and collaborative work of the second After Oil, which included public events, a multi-media archive, and on-site collaborative work aimed at making a concrete contribution to public consideration of the challenge and potential of true energy transition. Over seventy scholars, students, artists, activists, and practitioners engaged in three days of intensive reflection and collaboration on the challenges and possibilities of a social transition to energy systems and communities organized around the energy of the sun. Workshops, presentations and discussions were held on themes including feminist solarities, Indigenous solarities, community renewable energy, revolutionary solarities, Solarpunk, and speculative solarities. 

The collective work carried out at AOS2 resulted in two publications:

The After Oil Collective, After Oil: Solarity (University of Minnesota Press, 2022)