theater of lost species by future cities lab in dissident futures

theater of lost species by future cities lab

part virtual menagerie, part memory chamber, part urban spectacle – the theater of lost species provides a contemplative and engaging experience. visitors are invited to view and interact with swarming digital sea creatures through large glowing viewing cones. screens mounted at the end of the cones display a curated virtual ecology of lost marine species. sensors allow these digital creatures to react to visitors, while slowly pulsating light rods create a dynamic and playful atmosphere at night.  the theater of lost species by future cities lab is on exhibit at the YBCA ‘dissident futures’ show, oct 18, 2013 – feb 2, 2014.

the theater of lost species is an object for collective celebration and mourning, a catalyst for conversation, philosophical debate and ecological engagement. it is a device for both viewing and interacting with a collection of fantastic, yet extinct, sea creatures.

‘people simply have no history of living in a world without an abundance of other animals in the wild. we have no precedent for it. such a world will be new to the children who come after us; indeed, it will be alien. this planet will no longer be our old, familiar home, but something completely other. and that will change the character, the aesthetics, the ideals of our descendants, growing up on a globe that has almost in the blink of an eye been purged of its ancient evolutionary richness.’
lydia millet

the project has had a number of influences such as traveling menageries, chinese lanterns and portable camera obscura devices from the 1800’s, time capsules from the 1950-60’s and various recreations of noah’s arc. an important tandem project are seed banks such as the one at svalbard, norway. after reading lydia millet’s op-ed in the NYT ‘the child’s menagerie’ the future cities lab began the process of conceptualizing and designing the theater. they set out to address millet’s question: ‘can you feel the loss of something you never knew in the first place?‘

the long viewing cones focus on digital display screens that are portals to a seamless virtual aquarium. within the aquarium, digital sea creatures swarm to the viewing cones, engaging the subtle motion of viewers. in the evening the theater will glow and pulsate as the swarms slowly navigate within the virtual aquarium. future cities lab developed a custom physical-digital interface using the processing programming language (connecting arduino microcontrollers, infrared (IR) sensors and LEDs) allowing viewers to actively engage the virtual creatures. with regards to this the lab have been interested in projects like soda constructor, oasis and manifest.

the theater has a footprint of approx. 16′ x 16′ and is 16′ tall (488cm x 488cm x 488cm). it is made out of lightweight carbon fiber reinforced panels (FRP) and resin. the 15 unique hexagonal panels were made by kreysler & associates. the glowing pins are made out of translucent cast rods connected to super-bright LEDS.

a custom steel chasis connects all the pieces and is bolted to the ground. the interactive components are being programmed in processing, arduino, python and ruby.

the physical components are being prototyped using a combination of laser cutting, CNC milling and 3D printing. each viewing cone has three integrated IR sensors that allow the microcontrollers to sense visitors proximity which in turn activate the virtual swarm and glowing LEDs pins.

the entire assembly has been prototyped at future cities lab in the dogpatch neighborhood of san francisco

future cities lab: jason kelly johnson & nataly gattegno (design principals); team members: ripon deleon (senior associate), shawn komlos (intern).

production team: ji aahn, fernando amenedo

scientific collaborators: matthew clapham (UCSC); dr. jonathan payne (stanford university)