Wenwen & Ziyi
Nature Lab - Biomaterials You Can Make at Home
Do: Project 1 concept, sketches and outline/brainstorming (in pairs) – post on both your blogs
Working in pairs, develop one shared concept informed by the course readings, discussions, and assignments. You should identify specific materials, scale, and site (inside gallery, outside on location…) that speak to that concept. Record all this in written form as well as sketches, and post it on both your blogs. (Yes, this post should essentially be the same for both of you.)
You can use repurposed and/or transformed natural/bio-degradable materials – such as cardboard, paper-mache, wood shavings/sawdust, plants and leaves, cloth, yarn, beeswax, and/or natural dyes from foods and plants – to create interactive, non-digital installations. You should not use plastic or other non-biodegradable materials.
Note: although you may used found objects in their original form and/or manipulate them, a significant part of the installation must be made from transformed material.
Our project explores the intertwined concepts of time and loss, focusing on how human actions influence nature’s cycles. Time, in many ways, is a human construct, with our society governed by clocks, calendars, and strict schedules. Historically, people understood time through natural rhythms: the changing of seasons, the rising and setting of the sun. However, industrialization and modern life have shifted our perception of time into something linear and rigid, often disconnected from the natural world.
In nature, time manifests differently. A tree grows rings year by year, rivers flow continuously, leaves change color, and plants decay, giving way to new life. Nature’s cycles reflect a sense of time that is fluid, organic, and often indifferent to human concerns. However, human activity disrupts these natural processes, contributing to the irreversible loss of resources like soil, water, and biodiversity. Desertification, the degradation of land through overuse and mismanagement, is one stark example of this loss.
This installation aims to explore these complex relationships between time, nature, and the irreversible consequences of human actions.
We plan to create several half-hourglasses, suspended from the ceiling, each made from natural, biodegradable materials such as paper mache, cloth, weaved grass, cardboard, and lotus leaves. The hourglasses will not be in traditional shape but with various looks, representing the diversity of natural forms. To add a water-proof layer for some materials, we may apply wax. The falling contents—sand, rocks, dyed water, or ice—will flow at different speeds, echoing the unpredictable nature of time in the natural world. The filling materials will be colored using natural dyes from foods and plants, emphasizing the theme of change and transformation.
The falling materials symbolize both the passage of time and the irreversible loss of natural resources. Viewers are invited to engage with the installation by observing, touching, or even catching the materials. They may also choose to refill the hourglasses, simulating the human attempt to reverse time or restore what has been lost. However, the act of refilling may feel futile, as in reality, certain losses in nature—like desertification—are permanent.