Exhibiting division, seizing the state

The challenge of politics in “the Anthropocene” is a matter of perspective: we can’t look at climate change directly. We look for patterns and estimate probabilities, relying on disparate measurements of CO₂, etc. This chapter draws on the art collective Not An Alternative and their performance “The Natural History Museum” (in a real museum), which cuts through this illusory techno-managerial and post-political whole. By seizing the institution that transmits knowledge and legitimacy, they activate the museum’s claim to serve the common and force a choice: Do you stand with collectivity and the common, or with private property and the fossil fuel industry? To reject consensus and force division, this performative anti-capitalist politics can reclaim public institutions for the common.