Can our smartphones connect us with non-human life? Will we learn to participate as better citizens in the ecological commons?Fantastic ecologies exist everywhere on earth and at many scales, many of which are invisible to us. Though we mostly ignore and disrespect the non-humans in these networks, our lives depend upon them. Becoming Biodiversity is a guided tour which will allow us to inhabit the worlds of multiple species along the network, allowing them to become visible and “sense-able” to us. The viewer re-enacts stories from the perspectives of non-humans; playing the part of a plant calling out to a bird to help with pest control, an ant planting spring flowers while simultaneously feeding her babies, an underground fungal network delivering goods to struggling trees, and a cormorant searching for a meal in a man-made lake in New York City. There are 8 scenes in the tour, each takes place at Willow Lake, on the South end of Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The tour takes about 26 minutes and the one-way walk down the trail is less than a mile. You can also use the app in your local park, or on a customized iPad at the Harvestworks exhibition on Governor’s Island. GPS is not required.
Becoming Biodiversity
An augmented reality application that encourages participants to explore and experience local, ecological networks present in an urban park site. Cell phones and headphones are used to experience this artwork, which includes mixed-reality animations and storytelling as an overlay to the actual park. The experience will be an embodied one, designed to connect humans empathetically with the biodiversity, symbioses, and unseen worlds in public park spaces.
