After an inaugural introduction by ENS president Jean-François Pinton, Confluence Museum director Hélène Lafont-Couturier, and Lyon’s deputy mayor Georges Képénékian, four keynote panels explored four key themes:

1. The question of agriculture and food in the Anthropocene with a deep historical and prospective view (Matthieu Calame, fondation pour le progrès de l’Homme, Paris)
2. Aesthetics in the Anthropocene with a survey of the practices and psychological implications of our perception of the environment and its degradation (Nathalie Blanc, CNRS Paris)
3. War and strategy in the Anthropocene, building on key examples from contemporary conflicts as well as the very root of the Great Acceleration in the two world wars (Jean-Michel Valantin, the (red) team analysis, Paris)
4. How algorithms and platforms reshape not only the economy, but also our relation to territories and governance (Stéphane Grumbach, INRIA Lyon).

All four panels were followed by lively debate with participants, fueled by a number of provocative statements such as “the Sahara may be a product of humanity and agricultural practices”; “Somali fishermen became pirates and then competent hackers in a few years as a consequence of a failed state and exploitation of sea resources by opportunistic countries”; “Negative pleasure is a subliminal overarching theme in Anthropocene aesthetics”; and “Horizontalization through algorithmic intermediation is a way of replacing legality by legitimacy, and thus a way of reframing democracy.”

The afternoons centered around group work, with a strong creative twist. On day one, participants proposed their representations of the Anthropocene in a variety of media, including paint, drawing, and video, allowing them to confront their ideas and express themselves across disciplines. On day two, participants interacted with project leaders from civil society (didactics of global warming, urban gardens, landscape archeology, documentary realization, social and sustainable accommodation, artistic practice) and learnt how to shape a project as well as how to develop their own views on the Anthropocene from a more concrete perspective. On day three, they reflected on their recent experience in the Curriculum to identify key themes and questions to put forward in their own projects (see below).

Students prepared two cultural evenings: biologists and geologists organized an anthropocenic tour of the Confluence Museum, which holds an impressive natural sciences and ethnographic collection. Each Student presented an object from the Museum and an associated keyword (e.g. an aboriginal painting and the word “pigment” or “selfish”) to fuel group debate. The following night, Paul-Etienne Pini, a geography student, presented the question of nuclear waste and introduced Michael Madsen’s 2010 documentary Into Eternity with a critical view on its form. A debate followed, with all participants contributing their point of view, in a true interdisciplinary synthesis.

The last afternoon was dedicated to the design of students’ projects (to achieve within the academic year, 2016‒17). Ten projects emerged, among them: educational tools (video games on strategy including the randomness of nature and human decisions; events in schools to generate awareness of our epoch and the origins of our everyday products); artistic performances (“technofossils” to disperse in the city of Lyon, juggling as a metaphoric way to represent the Anthropocene, theatrical conferences); textual/sociological analysis of the current generation of students facing the challenges of the Anthropocene, practical tools (digital platform to improve access to sustainable practices, urban agriculture, renewable energy prototypes at ENS); prospective essays (ideal cities from the Renaissance to the near future with focus on Lyon, building on history and philosophy but also comic books and mathematics). The Curriculum ended with a seminal talk by Ioan Negrutiu (director of the Michel Serres Institute) on how to shape a “slow Anthropocene.”

Overall, the feedback from students and conveners has been very positive, and a follow-up edition is already envisioned from 2017 onwards, with additional academics partners (i.e. the National conservatory of music in Lyon, the political science school) and cultural institutions (i.e. Contemporary Art Institute, other museums), as well as contributions from participants of the 2016 Curriculum.