Asunder

Asunder

2019
Installation View of Asunder by Tega Brain, Bengt Sjölén, and Julian Oliver. Photo by Luca Girardini, CC NC-SA 4.0
Installation View of Asunder by Tega Brain, Bengt Sjölén, and Julian Oliver. Photo by Luca Girardini, CC NC-SA 4.0

Imagine the earth as a networked system whose data can be collected, analyzed, and acted upon to attempt to solve critical environmental challenges. In Asunder, a supercomputer analyzes satellite, climate, and geology data of terrestrial regions, generating environmental engineering plans that address human and nonhuman agendas. These scenarios of redesigned landscapes and ecologies are then simulated and their environmental performance assessed. The system dashboard displays each region's historic satellite data on the left, the process of the algorithm and simulation in the center, and the proposed “solution” on the right. As farmlands are relocated, coastlines straightened and rivers moved, the work shifts from humorous to preposterous, from eco-fetishistic to bureaucratic.

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