Echoes of Earth’s Epoch
01
Speculative Design
World-Building
Installation
Interaction Design
World-Builder
Researcher
Installation Designer
Model & Photo
Project Brief
Connor Zhang
Skyler Su
A Retrospective Exhibition of the Earth’s Environmental Degradation
Core77 Speculative Design Candidate 2024
Project Timeline
Nov. - Dec. 2023
A Speculative Design Project about Policies and Environmental Change
Project Type
My Role
The Team
Advisor
Fridolin Beisert - ACCD Product Design Dept Professor
Dr. Dajin Wang - AI, Education, and Interactive Media, Ph.D
02 Project Overview
This project is based on a speculative future, exploring the relationship between environmental change, nations, and policies within a set scenario. How do governments and citizens of countries with different ideologies respond to the same challenge? And how do the policies they establish impact the environment and the future of humanity?
03 World-Building
2100
Present
Irreversible Env Deterioration
2300
Final Stage of the Env Deterioration
By the early 21st century, Earth had begun an irreversible process of environmental degradation. In response, governments across the globe, driven by their respective ideologies, adopted various strategies to tackle this ecological crisis. These policies varied in their effectiveness, with some accelerating and others attempting to slow the environmental decline.
04 About the Exhibition
With the total extinction of flora and fauna, archaeologists unearth artifacts around the globe, representing the diverse policies enacted by different nations. These artifacts are collected, restored, and compiled into an exhibition.
Exhibition Floor Plan
05 Exhibits Description
The exhibition is comprised of eight distinct exhibits: the Timeline Map, Flora Sample & Electronic Genetic Storage, Mineral Samples, Archaeology Pit, Artificial Micro Ecosystem, Process of Decay Diagram, display of Remnants of the Wall Program, and display of Resident Relocation Program. These exhibits collectively reveal the varied strategies employed by different nations in response to environmental challenges.
Global Bio-conservationism
Different ideologies have allowed the nations of the world to form a total of four major alliances
Techno-Ecological Innovationism
Environmental Burden Transferism
Sea-Level Rise Adaptationism
Global Bio-conservationism
Global Bio-Conservationism involves the collection and digitalization of genetic sequences from a wide array of species. This initiative aimed to safeguard biodiversity with the hope that future technologies could resurrect these extinct species, thereby combating the decline of Earth's environment.
Flora Sample & Electronic Storage
Biodiversity is reserved by samples & electronic genetic storage. This pertains to the preservation of plant samples and electronic genetic sequences. Although the excavated plant samples were all deceased, technicians have simulated the appearance of the plants using the genetic sequences stored on the chips, which are now on display
Mineral Samples
Archaeologists also discovered a variety of minerals stored from different terrains, minerals that have now eroded or disappeared in the present world. Therefore, during the exhibition, we employed various technological methods to preserve these minerals.
Technology-Ecological Innovationism
Technology-Ecological Innovationism was embraced by technologically advanced nations, which opted to sidestep conventional environmental solutions in favor of creating synthetic ecological systems within vast underground laboratories. This innovative approach sought to preserve ecosystems artificially.
Flora Sample & Electronic Storage
Archaeologists found some decayed animal and plant samples among the ruins of the laboratory and, using data from the experimental records, reconstructed the appearance of the ecosystem of that time with modern technology, creating a miniature model.
Process of Decay Diagram
The experimental records also displayed the gradual failure of the artificial ecosystem. Based on these reports, archaeologists have showcased this process by making an installation. Flora and Fauna keep dying, so people tried to put some technology to keep the Ecosystem working. The diagram shows the species from sky to land to water
Environmental Burden Transferism
To maintain their development and production while delaying their own environmental degradation, several major nations formed an alliance to relocate pollution-heavy industries such as factories and nuclear power stations to economically disadvantaged regions. This strategy, aimed to centralize and control pollution sources. However, this approach failed, leading to severe ecological degradation in Regions lagging behind in development, which rapidly spread and impacted the entire world within a century.
Sea-Level Rise Adaptationism
Archaeologists also discovered documents where in the Small Island Nations Alliance (SINA) requested assistance from the United Nations. In the fully digitalized era of 2200, these documents were stored in an electronic device with a screen. The device, damaged by water, was diligently restored by technicians to the best of their ability
06 Summary
Echoes of Earth's Epoch is an evocative exhibition that displays exhibits to show the global environmental changes, showcasing artifacts that depict diverse global responses to the irreversible environmental collapse and the complete extinction of life forms.
07 Exhibition Aims
This project also aims to provoke a profound reflection on the societal and political impacts on our environment and a critical reassessment of our urgent responsibilities towards the Earth.
08 Behind the Scene
