Martín Fonck is a research associate in the research group Planetary Geopolitics and Geoengineering at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam. He completed his Ph.D. at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Munich. Within the IASS research group, Martín reflects on how ecological processes are transformed into unexpected technologies to face the planetary crisis. He is interested in analyzing the potential and unforeseen consequences of these processes from an ethnographic and historical perspective.
Martín and the "How to Kill a Cloud" (2021) share the interest in aesthetics and imaginaries of clouds. He has studied conflict on controversial artificial clouds associated with geothermal energy explorations in the Chilean Andes. His research explores the complex and nuanced perspectives on environmental controversies following scientific evidence practices and their ethical and political dilemmas.
As part of his research experience, he has joined collaborative and interdisciplinary research groups, working with geologists, ornithologists, environmental activists, and local communities. These experiences led him to publish articles in academic journals, organize experimental workshops, and produce audio-visual projects bringing the anthropological discussion into dialog with media studies.