An Ecosystem of Excess is an art project by artist and researcher Pinar Yoldas. The project addresses a series of ecological problems such as man-made

extreme environments An extreme environment is a habitat that is considered very hard to survive in due to its considerably extreme conditions such as temperature, accessibility to different energy sources or under high pressure. For an area to be considered an extrem ...

consumer capitalism A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or Service (economics), services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or bu ...

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

and

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

in the age of the

Anthropocene The Anthropocene ( ) is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. , neither the International Commissi ...

. Yoldas was awarded the Ernst Schering Foundation Arts & Culture Grant for her project, and An Ecosystem of Excess was premiered in Ernst Schering Project Space in Berlin in 2014."Pinar Yoldas: An Ecosystem of Excess"
''Ernst Schering Foundation'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. The project is an artistic imagination of a post-anthropocene

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

where non-human living creatures are evolved to digest plastic while human species goes extinct. It portrays the future story of alien life forms that emerge from the Great Pacific garbage patch, in the form of a

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

re-staging of

Abiogenesis In biology, abiogenesis (from a- 'not' + Greek bios 'life' + genesis 'origin') or the origin of life is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypothes ...

. For the project, Yoldas worked with

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...

Sylvia Earle Sylvia Alice Earle ( née Reade; born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scien ...

."Welcome to the Plastivorizene"
''Stylepark'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. An Ecosystem of Excess is a work informed by scientific research which confirms the emergence of new bacteria which adapt to plastic environments or what is scientifically called the

plastisphere The plastisphere consists of ecosystems that have evolved to live in human-made plastic environments. All plastic accumulated in marine ecosystems serves as a habitat for various types of microorganisms. The use of plastic has increased twenty-fo ...

, yet, it is a product of speculative fiction that takes inspiration but departs from science."Pinar Yoldas: An Ecosystem of Excess"
''Aksioma'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. It points to evolution and how this process is indirectly altered by human intervention in the age of

."Shaping Alternative Futures: Interview with Pinar Yoldas
''Digicult'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. The work involves a creative exaggeration of scientific facts, and more generally, a research about "the collaborative potential between art and biological sciences.""Digital Humanities Lecture: Pinar Yoldas"
''UCLA Center for Digital Humanities'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. Artist-theorists

Zach Blas Zach Blas is an artist and writer based in London. His work engages technology and politics and has been exhibited internationally at venues including IMA Brisbane; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; Whitechapel Gallery, London ...

and Christopher O'Leary describe the work as a design of "synthetic biological systems as a living critique of our society." The project has been exhibited internationally, in venues such as

ZKM The ZKM , Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (until March 2016: ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology), a cultural institution, was founded in 1989. and since 1997 is located in a listed industrial building in Karlsruhe, Germany, a former muni ...

Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe The ZKM , Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (until March 2016: ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology), a cultural institution, was founded in 1989. and since 1997 is located in a listed industrial building in Karlsruhe, Germany, a former muni ...

(2014),"GLOBALE: Exo-Evolution"
''ZKM'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Arts in Slovenia (2014), NAMOC National Art Museum of Beijing (2014), Polytech Museum Moscow (2015), ISCP

International Studio & Curatorial Program International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) is a contemporary art institution that runs an international residency program and related exhibitions and events based in Brooklyn, New York. ISCP's exhibitions, talks, screenings and lectures gene ...

in New York (2015),"Aqueous Earth"
''ISCP'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2016),"Regeneration Movement: Rethinking Technology in the Digital Age"
''NTMOFA'', Retrieved 26 November 2017. BOZAR Center for Fine Arts in Brussels (2017)"Future Emerging Art and Technology"
''BOZAR'', Retrieved 28 November 2017 and Calit2 Gallery at

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

(2017)"Artist Offers Dystopic Vision of New Life Forms Emerging from Great Pacific Garbage Patch"
''Calit 2'', Retrieved 27 November 2017. In May 2014, ''An Ecosystem of Excess'' was also published as a book by Argobooks.

References

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External links

Pinar Yoldas Imagines Future Life Inside the Pacific Trash Vortex, ''Vice''.
Environmental art