The Petrocultures Research Group is an interdisciplinary, international research project founded in 2011 by Sheena Wilson and Imre Szeman. It began with a conference hosted at Campus St. Jean at the University of Alberta, with participation from academics, artists, activists, policy makers, politicians, elected Indigenous leaders, and energy influencers from twelve countries around the world with an interest in oil and its foundational relation to contemporary culture.
Since the inaugural event in Edmonton, Petrocultures has hosted a biannual conference:
Montreal, Quebec (2014), St. Johns, Newfoundland (2016), and Glasgow, Scotland (2018), with a 4th conference upcoming in Stavanger, Norway in August 2022 (delayed from 2020 due to COVID-19).
In addition to its namesake conference, the Petrocultures Research Group has hosted two After Oil (AOS) with a third one in the works. Publications include Petrocultures: Oil, Politics, Culture (2017), After Oil (2016), Solarity (2021), and Solarities: Seeking Energy Justice (2022). Additionally, the networks of academics, artists and professionals created by Petrocultures events and research projects continues to grow, and has come to encompass vast areas of study and produce publications across many disciplines. See official Petrocultures website for more information.
