this is your brain
this is your brain on CO2
not exactly a human brain, but brain coral, the "mine canary" of the ocean. Sensitive to changing temperatures and pH as the earth warms.
plastic c))motion strips move and wave in the sun, shading a thermometer from the rising heat. Seemingly alive. Actually dead. The last gasp of the coral sea.
by substituting a black plastic film for delicate coral polyp tentacles, we give voice to our fear of substituting artifice for the beauty of nature. Emptiness in lieu of abundance. While the sun ultimately powers all life- even synthetic life arising from mechanical tension between expansion and compression in a plastic film- life becomes a hollow existence once nature fades away.
Yet there is always the promise of redemption. In diploria, the same black plastic film mimicking life, was developed to reduce global warming by shading buildings from strong sun. Thus all challenges are ultimately opportunities.
First exhibited "Sublime Climate", Cambridge School of Weston, 2008
galvanized steel frame, 18 " diameter
c))motion plastic tendrils
natural sunlight, or theatrical lights and controller