The eternal return: Imagining security futures at the Doomsday Vault

This article examines how imaginaries of security in the Anthropocene function at Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), otherwise known as ‘Doomsday Vault’. Recent explorations by scholars have suggested that different ways seeing, understanding, acting in, and imagining world are necessary to adequately respond complex crises Anthropocene. The dissolution nature/culture divide existential risk from planetary threats said require new creative formations security. Buried Norwegian high Arctic, heavily fortified SGSV was built 2008 a planetary-scale, ‘deep-time organisation’ would forever secure wide variety plant seeds their genetic makeup against regional or global upheavals. argues his seed ‘ark’ materialises three imaginaries: apocalypse, hope escape. prevalence use these reveal stability long-held logics challenge widely-held belief innately transformative properties concept for Instead, demonstrates difficulty overcoming collective mindfulness fixes eternal forms even midst unprecedented threats, interventions technology.