Take a breath, take another: undergoing an intimate encounter with nature to perceive the world through a non-human lens.

"...sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the sunlight that came through the shuffling leaves of the summer trees." — Minecraft End Poem

Abstract

Our ancestors believed we dwell at the center of the universe and worshiped the Sun. It makes sense to revere the stars because we are their children. The oxygen in the air, the ores that make jewelry, and the carbon in our DNA were all formed in the stars billions of years ago. Our planet, our society, and ourselves are all composed of stardust. If sunlight strikes the surface of a leaf, a plant will store it as chemical energy. The human body turns this chemical energy into electrical signals for thought, voice, and movement. Such aerial communication between humans and plants has occurred for 200,000 years.

A Tale of Two Lives explores another possible dialogue between humans and plants, imagining humans as symbiotic with the microscopic inhabitants of the rhizosphere. The project implies an interrogation of eco-evolutionary consciousness in which respiration encapsulates our relationship with nature, from single-celled life forms to the controversial Anthropocene, while elaborating that light lies at the basis of all lives. The work invites one to contemplate these vital relations by having a seat, calmly breathing, and mutually connecting with the rhizosphere respiration that happens underground to facilitate nutrient sharing and information exchange among plants. One can view this installation as speculative of these perspectives in which symbiosis is a result of emergences from multi-species conversations within the environment.

Background

In the wake of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, humans became a major force in shaping environmental evolution. Scientists coined the term Anthropocene, which epitomizes the geological changes of this period. Yet, it is clear we humans are once again placing ourselves at the center of the world. John Feldman's documentary Symbiotic Earth offers a comprehensive understanding and assessment of Lynn Margulis' contributions to contemporary evolutionary biology, theory, and ecology. A leading pioneer of the significance of symbiotic relationships in evolution and a strong critic of neo-Darwinism, Margulis' views remained controversial decades after her first publication on eukaryotic cell evolution in the 1960s. Still, her unconventional theories challenge the scientific community and continue to question how we perceive ourselves and the environment.

Unfolding Margulis' ideas, what if, instead of assuming that organisms are the basic units of evolution, we view multi-species living ecosystems as symbioses that challenge the notions of Survival of the Fittest? Current conceptions of organisms are inadequate for adapting to the contemporary issues of climate and biodiversity. Aggressive pressures associated with climate change have brought global ecologies and plant communities under attack; however, abundant and resilient life continues to adapt and thrive in most places. In the face of crises such as pandemics, political upheaval, and the rapid degradation of the Earth's natural systems, the biophilic and spiritual restorative power of plants is evident in shaping human experience within a backdrop of untold inequalities. In observing plant patterns and learning from this tumultuous context, I aim to foreground the healing and resilience of plants that are fundamental to maintaining life on this planet.

Technical

A Tale of Two Lives is a speculative mixed-media installation placed between humans and aquatic plants, creating a space for both to communicate with one another. As a method of displaying and viewing plant specimens and composed landscapes (e.g., "borrowed scenery" [1]), the installation derives from a critique of generally anthropocentric views and constructs a symbiotic lens through which humans develop the relationship with plant life. Over a period of 12 months, the creator nurtured these plants and their root systems by hand day in and day out. The process simultaneously raises the question of whether the rapid technological developments of our time are more enduring than the evolution of nature.

The entire structure consists of 3 integral parts, including an environmental sensing interface, a wearable device transformed by a nebulizer, and 12 vials of plants. The environmental sensing interface captures the electrical alterations generated in visitors' respiration behavior to create a real-time conversation as if they were underground. The nebulizer adaptation comprises a Cool Mist Inhaler and accessories, including a bag valve mask (BVM) and breathing tubes. A customized circuit measures the CO2 levels within the BVM using Arduino Nano 33 loT x1, CO2 sensor x1, and LED NeoPixels x12. These data are then translated into illuminated patterns that align with the rhythm of breathing while triggering the oxygen concentrator at the plants' roots.

[1] Borrowed scenery (借景; Japanese: shakkei; Chinese: jièjǐng): the principle of incorporating background landscape into the composition of a garden found in traditional East Asian garden design. The term is Chinese in origin, and appears in the 17th century garden treatise Yuanye.

Experience

A Tale of Two Lives aims to be a multi-sensory interactive experience, guided by the core biophilic design principles to improve health and well-being in the built environment, in accordance with the following design patterns:

Nature in the Space Patterns: Visual Connection with Nature; Non-Visual Connection with Nature; Non-Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli; Thermal & Airflow Variability; Presence of Water; Dynamic & Diffuse Light; Connection with Natural Systems
Natural Analogues Patterns: Biomorphic Forms & Patterns; Material Connection with Nature; Complexity & Order
Nature of the Space Patterns: Prospect; Refuge; Mystery; Risk/Peril

The biophilic elements include visual, audio, and haptic such as water, lighting, and breeze, which are presented in a flux of the natural and simulated as a counterpart to the visual complexity of all the green elements. The experience with biodiversity generates restorative patterns and reinforces biophilic connections, which afford the opportunity for spiritual restoration and other cognitive and psychological benefits in turn.

Regarding the invitation for participants to breathe with the plants' roots, the installation places a CO2 detector underwater based on a chemical reaction causing a color change. The yellow color indicates a high level of CO2 around the roots and the need for recipients' help, breathing more to trigger the oxygen concentrator until the color of the detection solution turns green.

By the end of the experience, my hope is for the audience to feel a biophilic encounter, as well as to challenge viewers to reflect on the potential impact of this otherwise hidden conversation occurring underground in shaping social behavior patterns that influence the expansion of a shared interspecies communication and a symbiotic future with nature.

Reference

[1] Clarke, Bruce, ed. Earth, life, and system: evolution and ecology on a Gaian planet. Fordham University Press, 2015.
[2] Clarke, Bruce. Gaian systems: Lynn Margulis, neocybernetics, and the end of the Anthropocene. Vol. 60. U of Minnesota Press, 2020.
[3] Giraud, Eva H. What comes after entanglement?: Activism, anthropocentrism, and an ethics of exclusion. Duke University Press, 2019.
[4] Margulis, Lynn, and Dorion Sagan. What is life?. Univ of California Press, 2000.
[5] Margulis, Lynn. "Speculation on speculation." Slanted Truths. Springer, New York, NY, 1997. 113-123.
[6] Margulis, Lynn. "Symbiosis in cell evolution: Life and its environment on the early earth." (1981).
[7] Rees, Tobias. "From The Anthropocene To The Microbiocene." Noema Magazine (2020).
[8] Ryan, Catherine O., et al. "Biophilic design patterns: emerging nature-based parameters for health and well-being in the built environment." ArchNet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research 8.2 (2014): 62.
[9] Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, et al., eds. Arts of living on a damaged planet: Ghosts and monsters of the Anthropocene. U of Minnesota Press, 2017.
[10] Wohlleben, Peter. The hidden life of trees: What they feel, how they communicate—Discoveries from a secret world. Vol. 1. Greystone Books, 2016.

Acknowledgment

With special thanks to Stavros Didakis, Andrew Lazarow, Craig Protzel, and Ruta Kruliauskaite for their guidance and encouragement. Thank you to Enrique García Alcalá, Yiru Lu, Yuguang Zhang, Chelsea Chen, and Patrick Warren for their skillful assistance and support. Thank you to David Rios, Tiri Kananuruk, Jung Hyun Moon, Rodolfo Cossovich, Gal Nissim, Eric Parren, and Aidan Nelson for generously sharing with me their knowledge and perspectives. Thank you to all the faculty, staff, residents, and students of the IMA Low Res Class of 2022 for the time you spent helping me on many occasions. I am also thankful for my family and friends outside of the IMA/ITP community who are always with me and trust in me.

Documentation

*No plants were harmed in the creation of this project.

A Tale Of Two Lives