The Adaptation Workshop @ SymbioticA
As part of Plastic Futures 2 we had the opportunity to travel to Perth, Western Australia and participate in a workshop hosted by Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr at SymbioticA (a centre for excellence in bio-art research within the Department of Anatomy & Human Biology at UWA). This involved a loose set of investigations around the theme of “adaptation” with a focus on a colony of thrombolites, ancient “living rocks” situated in a lake south of Perth.
As well as the introduction to the labs at SymbioticA (including a session of DNA extraction) we visited the Geological Survey of Western Australia to hear from Chief Paleontologist Kath Grey about her research into microbialites. The desert sands of Western Australia contain a vast geological archive of these most ancient forms of life. This is particularly important in the resource rich state of W.A. as the fossil remains of these organisms are a very accurate way of dating the surrounding rock and therefore indicating the likelyhood of mineral wealth. As mentioned, not only are there fossilised remains of microbialites in W.A. but also one of the world’s only remaining ‘living’ microbialite reefs, located at Lake Clifton. We undertook a field trip to Lake Clifton, which is near Mandurah, a former fishing village and resort town about 70km south of Perth. From our base at a newly built resort at Preston Beach we explored the surrounding Yalgorup National Park and the town of Mandurah itself. Mandurah is in the process of merging with Perth’s southern suburbs and the effect of these changes are impacting on the the once predominantly elderly community as well as the local environment, including Lake Clifton.
“Thrombolites, or ‘living rocks’, are built by micro-organisms, similar to the earliest recorded forms of life on the Earth… Major changes such as booms in development and global warming’s affect on rainfall, deeply effect this rich ecosystem, paradoxically putting in danger the very organisms responsible for life itself.”
- Oron Catts, SymbioticA
The threat to these organisms (if indeed they are still alive, which is itself the subject of debate) in a sense mirrors the threat felt by the ‘native’ population of Mandurah to the growth and change occurring all around them. On another level the idea of plasticity, adaptability to change is a challenge we all face in terms of climate change and emerging technological and social change occurring in the world. If the thrombolites are to survive they will need to adapt and change or face extinction. This is the challenge facing humanity also. The theory reluctantly arrived at was that in many ways the thrombolites might be doomed. The old and fragile thrombolites serve as a metaphor for the elderly and conservative residents of Mandurah. By their nature they are not ‘adaptable’ in the sense that their existence is threatened by change – both social and environmental. If change is to occur, what form might these adaptations take? Will they be welcomed or resisted? Might the pace and degree of change leave the community feeling as though the very things they love and value have changed beyond recognition? By posing these “What if… ?” questions, and creating scenarios that incorporate these issues, we attempt to generate meaning, and a context within which to operate in making decisions about the future.
The week culminated in an intensive creative 5 hour workshop at the UWA Architecture Landscape and Visual Arts workshops where participants formed groups and translated their ideas and discoveries into interpretive/speculative proposals. The work was a combination of physical and digital / large-scale architectural / human-scale body art / garment designs. These were presented to a small public gathering in the Cullity Gallery.
The images below represent an extreme and eccentric scenario based on “predictions” formed through examination of issues through an internal logic developed over the preceding week. The scenario is described as follows:
It is the year 2015, and the organisation PALS (Plastic and Adaptable Life Society) proposes an enclosed experimental community protected from the outside world and providing a site for research into bio-art, genetics and nanotechnology. The development dubbed ‘The Future’ undertakes research investigating the possibilities of the thrombolite and cyanobacteria of Lake Clifton as a source of new transgenic lifeforms that are more plastic, adaptable and able to survive the future by combining human and cyanobacteria DNA.
By 2030 the PALS community has proven to be extremely successful. There begin to evolve new adaptable ‘plastic’ thrombolite/human hybrids with greater abilities than ‘normal’ humans. They are able to ‘build’ with the materials secreted from their bodies and create their own food by photosynthesis. They also capture carbon dioxide from the air and deposit it within their limestone secretions. By 2040 these new humans are living amongst us. They serve to bring the thrombolites and the humans together in a way that ensures the survival of both, albeit in a brand new and disorientating form. Will they be welcomed or shunned?
As ocean levels rise and the canal estates of Mandurah become inundated, the PALS community takes shape in the form of thrombolitic colonisation. The scenario develops the idea of bio-genisis of architecture, the emergence of new outgrowths of the biological forms outside the Lake Clifton community colonising the rest of Mandurah. By this time These bio-architects are valued as producers of oxygen, and the capturing of carbon dioxide as well as creating livable semi-aquatic communities through their biological processes of building thrombolitic structures. PALS markets itself through the new name of ‘PostHuman Adaptive Lifestyle Synergies’ and creates a new real-estate brand to attract people to live in this ideal community. The idea spreads and eventually all over the world, post-human hybrids are living in calcified half-submerged communities.
The experience of the workshop inspired a sense of childlike delight in the discovery of some quite bizzarre new ideas and a sense of being overwhelmed by the quantity of new knowledge and new concepts. I was challenged by the complexity of the ethical issues and inspired by the endless aesthetic possibilities contained in the field of bio-art.