Traditional geology analyses sediments as deposits of organic or mineral matter. Today, anthropogenic deposits are forming new sediments and becoming increasingly relevant on a planetary scale. These sediments are linked to the waste of modern industrial societies and former colonial powers: the global spread of non-biodegradable microplastics, the pollution of soils and waters with cumulative toxins, the challenge of nuclear waste disposal, the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the increasing amount of space debris orbiting the earth. How can media give an account of this rapid proliferation of residue, especially new forms of waste that are inaccessible and intangible, concentrated in the air, deposited in the earth, or on the seabed? In what ways do media document and shape life amidst anthropogenic sediments that are formed by geopolitical power imbalances, the slow violence of ecocides, and enduring imperial debris? How can artificial sediments give rise to new, unplanned cycles of reuse and recycling? What means and methods can audiovisual media employ to design new metabolic cycles of man-made deposits? 

Previous research has focused on sediments as geophysical processes, but it has also used the term as an epistemological figure of thought. To survey current forms of sediments and examine their significance for contemporary theories of media, the workshop brings media studies into dialogue with geoscience, sociology, and artistic research. The contributions address three fundamental movements that come together in sedimentation from both a geophysical and an epistemological perspective: deposition, accumulation, and condensation.