this speculative futurefiction/installation inside a bathrooom (!) at the MFA-IA art building in north Lake Tahoe conjectured a future in which citizen scientists engage in an intimate process of observation and data collection of the subsurface Lake Tahoe ecosystem via the augmented surfaces of their homes.
just as the rapid evolution of compound organic eyes during the Cambrian period [-540 million years] inspired dramatic a burst of evolutionary progress, so too the recent proliferation of inorganic (technological) “eyes” (i.e. cameras) has allowed humans to survey and monitor places that were once inaccessible. this dystopian installation explores one way that new modes of surveillance might enable new kinds of human connection to the natural world.
what you’re looking at: live-stream footage captured by submersible ROVs beneath Lake Tahoe is projected onto a toilet seat and bathroom wall, mimicing the smart surfaces now available in modern homes. within this speculative world, constant surveillance of endangered ecosystems enables a league of citizen scientists to visit and monitor the world’s natural places. underwater wildernesses, once inaccessible, are now part of citizens daily lives.
just as the rapid evolution of compound organic eyes during the Cambrian period [-540 million years] inspired dramatic a burst of evolutionary progress, so too the recent proliferation of inorganic (technological) “eyes” (i.e. cameras) has allowed humans to survey and monitor places that were once inaccessible. this dystopian installation explores one way that new modes of surveillance might enable new kinds of human connection to the natural world.
what you’re looking at: live-stream footage captured by submersible ROVs beneath Lake Tahoe is projected onto a toilet seat and bathroom wall, mimicing the smart surfaces now available in modern homes. within this speculative world, constant surveillance of endangered ecosystems enables a league of citizen scientists to visit and monitor the world’s natural places. underwater wildernesses, once inaccessible, are now part of citizens daily lives.