Babbling Creatures
Mutli-media project in collaboration with Alex LinThe Anthropocene marks the beginning of the age in which human activity affects the planet as a whole. No longer do our individual decisions and consequences impact only our perceived sphere of influence, but rather, affect the well-being of our ecosystem on a macro level. Babbling Creatures portrays the inherent complexities in a small scale system featuring several simple paper sculptures. The misdirection and flow of information constantly alter the state and behavior of those creatures to reveal the larger consequence of our seemingly insignificant daily actions.
Our dissociation with nature, through the construction of artificial landscapes, leads us to forget about the fundamental bond we share with other living beings in our ecosystem. Compared to the permanence of the physical erection of new apparatus to facilitate our own societal concerns, the rate by which nature is contaminated and destroyed as a consequence of our selfish pursuits far exceeds the rate in which mother nature can heal herself. To illustrate the fragile and weakened state of our planet’s ecosystem, the project is constructed out of translucent paper, embodying the fleeting beauty of nature amidst a sea of external threats.
Babbling Creatures is a family of paper interactive objects whose reactions are informed by audience and musician movements. Each creature harvest motion and human activity input and translates it into different physical behaviors. The creatures represent the natural world which is complex, interwoven and exists in a delicate equilibrium vulnerable to change. The piece is performed during Carnegie Mellon's University’s IDeATe show Every Possible Utterance, and is made possible by collaborating student work from three IDeATe courses: Advanced Animation Studio: ETB, Activating the Body, and Exploded Ensemble.
Photo Credit: Christina Brown
