DIATOMIC LIFE
This project for Design in the Posthuman Age seeks to imagine the experience of a diatom and facilitate connection in order to create a visual, empathic relationship between human and non-human, and break the barrier of didactic discussions around climate change.
A diatom’s stress or excitement, often in reaction to thermal changes in the oceanic environment, can be observed through the release of a fluid calcium substance, revealed through fluorescence marking. In collaboration with Dougal Henken, we were both very interested in this concept of color as language, and intuitive, emotive communication.
A diatom’s stress or excitement, often in reaction to thermal changes in the oceanic environment, can be observed through the release of a fluid calcium substance, revealed through fluorescence marking. In collaboration with Dougal Henken, we were both very interested in this concept of color as language, and intuitive, emotive communication.
The project is an installation that recreates this experience. Users are able to interact with a televised diatom by moving within its space. By doing so, the diatom will react with movement and changes to color. The result will be a “felt” space, one that communicates experience through subtle formal changes, not native to either species.
