Biophilia in the Hinterland: Symbiotic Affects in Robinson in Ruins

Patrick Keiller’s Robinson in Ruins is a feature-length film essay presenting a fictional protagonist, the politically radical Robinson. Set in the 2008–2009 financial collapse, Robinson meets some “nonhuman intelligences,” who are lichens. These inspire him to document the historical and contemporary state of England’s far hinterland, which comprises not just post-industrial wastelands, such as the cement mines, but also historical sites of civil disobedience, such as Hampton Gay. In its vicinity, roads are lined with flowers, fences, and gas markers: a nonhuman world of both organic and inorganic entities. Engaging with Jobb Arnold’s concept of “land affects” and Sara Ahmed’s work on “affective economies,” I explore “symbiotic affects” as they flow between human and nonhuman beings in the film’s far hinterland.