Messengers
Messengers was an installation created for the exhibit We Are Nature: A New Natural History for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History 2021-2025. Messengers consist of three Tardigrade shaped sculptures made from recycled PET water bottle plastic, serving as time capsules for 1000s of visitor messages for the future. The sculptures and messages are now part of the museum’s collection
Exhibition Collaboration
During my fellowship at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History as the Project Manager and Science Communicator for the We Are Nature project, I was invited to create an art installation for the exhibition by Nicole Heller, the Associate Curator for Anthropocene Studies, and director of the We Are Nature project.
The experience of contributing artwork to a project I was also managing allowed me to get supporting departments involved in thinking about what an art installation could be. I generated the ideas for an interactive exhibit, and through group discussions and brainstorming with colleagues in the Education, Exhibition, Anthropology, and Anthropocene Studies departments, the final project concept was shaped. I then went to work sculpting large versions of Tardigrades out of recycled thermal plastic. Three time capsules were created as repositories for visitors’ thoughts about conditions in 2027, 2025, and 2095, years chosen for their potential to be a time of major change for life on Earth.
Why Tardigrades
Tardigrades, otherwise known as “Water bears” or “Moss Piglets” because of their 8-legged chubby resemblance of key features on bears or pigs, are well known around the globe for their survival skills. I can’t seem to do research on them without finding some new fantastic feat they’ve conquered, like being frozen for 30 years and brought back to life, or failing to survive impact from a crashed rocket on the moon.
Tardigrades, which compare in size with a tiny rice grain, are microscopic creatures found almost everywhere on Earth, from your backyard to the top of a volcano or the ocean.
I’ve found them by gathering some lichen from my backyard, soaking a section of lichen in water, and then examining the fluid under a microscope, and BAM! There they are, crawling around eating and pooping. I think they’re weirdly cute and very accessible. If you’re interested, there are some instructions online for doing your own research.
I think what’s most inspiring about Tardigrades is how they have evolved to go into what is termed a tun state, becoming a dehydrated looking blob in a state of suspended animation in order to survive harsh environmental change, and then rehydrating when the environment is more to their liking. For these creatures, whose average life span is three to four months for some species, and a little more than 2 years for others, the ability to press “Pause” when things get tough, is unique. From my interpretation, the tardigrade’s time traveling ability makes them perfect messengers for future Earth.
Time Capsules as an Interactive Exhibit to Process the Anthropocene
Before the time capsules were fabricated, the installation required some thought as to how visitors could best approach the time capsules and feel invited to contribute a message for the future. I worked with the Exhibitions staff for a year to prototype different prompts and test their effectiveness on the floor with visitors. In collaborating with different departments, we realized that the Hub, where Messengers was located, should be a space where visitors could process what they’ve learned and express their feelings about the Anthropocene. The term Anthropocene is the name of the proposed current geological epoch when human activities dominate the functioning of the planetary system. This distinct geological time period is what We Are Nature: A New Natural History explores, using new interpretive panels in 15 existing exhibit areas and related art installations as focus points to help visitors learn more about the topic.
The final prompts and labels for the Messengers installation were part of what made it so successful. Every week, we had an average of 200-300 messages, many of them very serious, heartfelt, and earnest. An additional factor in its success was the message wall, where visitors placed their messages under the different year headers. During my observations, most visitors went directly to the message wall, reading from left to right every single message.
What are your hopes and fears for the future of life on Earth?
Each Tardigrade has a designated year:
Many climate scientists say we have until 2027 to take bold action to avoid climate disaster. If humans can keep global warming under 1.5°C (2.7° F), we reduce the risk of catastrophic heat and drought, food scarcity, flooding, and more.
The United States set a goal to have 100% carbon-free energy production by 2035. Achieving this goal will require a major overhaul of the energy system, changing the way we power homes, businesses, and transportation to reduce pollution.
Seven decades separate use from the 1950s, and seven decades separate us from the 2090s. The 1950s are known as the Great Acceleration. Some researchers look back at those years as a turning point when human activities and population growth became unsustainable, putting all life on Earth at risk.
