Planet A, 2021

 I am interested in researching climate change, sustainability and future potentialities for life in a post-Anthropocene world. The sculpture, Planet A, is a collection of three composite sculptures and a soundscape, which reflect a dystopic future in a barren landscape where human life has continued in a world devoid of all animal life.

The work, Planet A, is a model of three floating craggy rocks. Two of the rocks are occupied by houses, and the third is covered in vegetation and gardens, and they are connected by rope bridges. There is an accompanying soundscape with atmospheric sound produced by speakers around the sculpture as well as speakers inside the houses to activate the domestic setting.

The houses are similar in scale to the rock, giving it a cartoonish appearance. There are some edges where the walls of the house are on the shear edge of the rock, this adds to the feeling of complete isolation. To offset this the houses appear like warm, inviting cabins you might find in a children’s book. There are warm-toned lights inside and the houses’ forms are organic and soft. There are live plants, modelled trees, vegetables and other vegetation around the houses. The overgrowth down to the base of the rocks show that they have been exposed to the elements for some time. The houses explore sustainable architecture, farming and design, including cob structures, taledakt flooring, permaculture principles, solar power, minimising power usage, water recycling and vertical farming.

The houses contrast idealised living conditions with the desolate landscape and environmental decimation present in the world of the artwork. I tried to make the houses as comfortable looking and relatable as possible to help the viewer allegorise and place themselves in the world of the sculpture.

There are no model people as sound is used to dictate that life is present within the sculpture. There are three tracks within the work, all of them are ten minutes in duration and loop continuously, two soundscapes are within the sculptures – placed in the roof of each house – and the third is played through four speakers placed on the ground surrounding the sculpture. The house sounds are played through 3-watt speakers inside the homes, they are arranged as a day’s cycle. In one house the sequence is: breakfast – radio – shower – radio play – dinner – loop. In the second house it is a ten-minute radio receiver exchange between someone in that house and a human in an unreachable house, the sound is intercut with feedback from satellites. The sound for the exterior is a loop of atmospheric space sounds, mostly gathered from the NASA public archive.

The work, Planet A, is set in a fictional time around 2080 when we are expected to reach peak population, or peak human, and there has been a nuclear war which has split the earth into small yet habitable parts. Through this sculpture I am exploring some possibilities for sustainable practices in a world like this. The work is a blend of dystopic and idealistic future imaginings, which aim to draw in the viewer to take a closer look. The viewer can sit in the uncomfortable feeling a destroyed world presents. The isolation and loneliness of being in a world without other humans or animal companions is not a desired future outcome. Experiencing the work is not intended to produce solutions, but to pose more questions about the earth’s existing condition and how an individual relates to this. I want them to unravel meaning from the work for themselves and to take away a deeper consideration for how their actions today will influence the possibilities of the future.

I chose to make the work because the issue of climate collapse is very pressing. It is made even more so by the lack of action taken to create positive environmental change by our government and the country’s biggest polluters. I listened to the audiobook ‘A life on our Planet’ by David Attenborough during 2020 and it had a profound effect on me. Most namely, finding out we can change things, but we have a short window of time to do so. The world is finite, even though most people consume as if the resources are endless. It started me thinking about what the earth would look like if we did continue like we are, with mindless consumption, pointless wars, pollution, mass extinction and climate change shaping the earth. Climate change does not spell the end of life on our planet, but this path will lead to the end of the Anthropocene and the eradication of human life on our planet.

Sound Design by Jordan Kazimierus Hall 2021