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STARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances of technology and artistic practice. As part of this initiative, the STARTS residencies foster pioneering collaborations and the STARTS Prize honors the most inspired results in the field of creativity and innovation at the crossings of science and technology with the arts. STARTS is funded through various schemes provided by the European Commission.
PROJECT HABITATE
Yishan Qin,
Tom Hartley,
Yuning Chan
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What if humans can be the medium of nature? What if humans can also provide ecological services? Project Habitate is a provocation that challenges the anthropocentric perspective of ecological values and cultivates kinship between human and nonhuman organisms.
We designed a living wearable that enables people to become the hosts for endangered organisms, which in return gives them a sense of companionship and belonging, advocating a new concept of participatory conservation.
The background of the project is ash dieback, a disease that is eradicating the majority of the ash tree population in Europe. Fortunately, the ash won’t be gone forever, but the new population will take decades to grow. In the intervening years, hundreds of species of moss, lichen, and fungi that depend on the ash are losing their habitat and risk secondary extinction.
Traditional conservation methods for these unassuming species can’t cope with this scale of habitat loss. To thrive and reproduce, the species need a specialised habitat and access to a diverse population, normally provided by a forest.
Our material mimics the ash tree’s bark texture, light level, porosity, and pH and leverages human movement to support guest species' spore dispersal. The wearable provides a temporary home for these tiny species and allows us to play an active role in maintaining biodiversity and breaking the cycle of conservation and destruction by creating a pattern of human-nature coexistence.
In an era of social distancing, this living wearable can be a vibrant indicator of ecological-social connectivity, reminding us that no species is an island.
Links: https://alienyuning.com/habitate, https://ddw.nl/en/programme/2889/project-habitate, https://www.clotmag.com/news/insight-habitate-a-material-that-mimics-the-biostructure-of-the-ash-trees-bark
We designed a living wearable that enables people to become the hosts for endangered organisms, which in return gives them a sense of companionship and belonging, advocating a new concept of participatory conservation.
The background of the project is ash dieback, a disease that is eradicating the majority of the ash tree population in Europe. Fortunately, the ash won’t be gone forever, but the new population will take decades to grow. In the intervening years, hundreds of species of moss, lichen, and fungi that depend on the ash are losing their habitat and risk secondary extinction.
Traditional conservation methods for these unassuming species can’t cope with this scale of habitat loss. To thrive and reproduce, the species need a specialised habitat and access to a diverse population, normally provided by a forest.
Our material mimics the ash tree’s bark texture, light level, porosity, and pH and leverages human movement to support guest species' spore dispersal. The wearable provides a temporary home for these tiny species and allows us to play an active role in maintaining biodiversity and breaking the cycle of conservation and destruction by creating a pattern of human-nature coexistence.
In an era of social distancing, this living wearable can be a vibrant indicator of ecological-social connectivity, reminding us that no species is an island.
Links: https://alienyuning.com/habitate, https://ddw.nl/en/programme/2889/project-habitate, https://www.clotmag.com/news/insight-habitate-a-material-that-mimics-the-biostructure-of-the-ash-trees-bark
Artists: Yuning Chan, Yishan Qin, Tom Hartley
With support from: Royal College of Art, Imperial College London, The James Hutton Institute, Robert Koch Institute, The Millennium Wood
With support from: Royal College of Art, Imperial College London, The James Hutton Institute, Robert Koch Institute, The Millennium Wood
Yuning Chan (CN) comes from an environmental science background and has always been driven by working with nature. She sees design as a powerful tool to influence how people perceive and interact with their environment. She is very much inspired by kin-centric ecology and flat ontology. Her main interest lies in using design fiction to expand imaginations of human-nature coexistences. Tom Hartley (GB) is an innovation designer with a drive to tackle complex issues in meaningful and creative ways. His background in Electronic and Information Engineering has lent him deep understanding of the technologies that underpin our lives. This is complemented by a keen familiarity with the design process, gained during his masters degree at the Royal College of Art. Yishan Qin (CN). Starting with product design in her bachelor’s degree, Yishan then dived into Innovation Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. At the same time, she has been pursuing her exploration of UX design and fine art. Yishan really enjoys merging insights from scientific contexts into creative solutions with a can–do mind and curiosity.