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Paper short abstract

This paper explores experiences of 'hypermobilities', in particular air travel, as sensations that are more-than-human. A creative artwork that merges audio-visual media and ethnographic documentation will be used to highlight affective resonances and dissonances in such situations.

Paper long abstract

Air travel has become almost ubiquitous to contemporary hypermobile global society. Yet how we sense and experience such 'hypermobilities' is dependent on a range of interactions with humans and nonhumans. Mobilities and STS scholars have recognised airports and flight routes as global hubs where material and immaterial actors are entangled: passengers, workers, material resources, cargo, ideas, cultures and many others. However, few studies have employed creative and experimental techniques that might further unravel the multi-sensory complexities of how we experience the more-than-human entanglements that hypermobilities bring to the foreground.

In this paper I examine air travel as a situation where interactions with the more-than-human realm become pronounced. This may come to attention when we adjust to different times, locations or climates; or notice the extensive transport infrastructures and security networks involved; or the lingering sensations of turbulence while feeling our circadian rhythm synchronise to a different hemisphere and environment. Drawing from a creative artwork that merges audio-visual media, ethnographic observations, alongside empirical data, I explore the affects, resonances, and at times, moments of disjuncture and dissonance that constitute sensations of air travel. I suggest that positioning nonhumans at the foreground of air travel experiences draws attention to our individual perceptions, expectations, and impacts of consuming such hypermobilities. Using creative documentation, from both on-the-ground and in-the-air, I investigate how the practices, demands, consumption patterns, and challenges surrounding increasing high-speed global mobilities might be re-thought in terms of more-than-human entanglements.