Haunting, Enchantment, and Leaky Ecosystems:

Algorithms, Antelope, Balancing scales, Bees, Benzene, Bondage mask, Body bag, Bouncy castle, Butterflies, Buttocks hydrogel, Cactus wrens, Cartoons, Chairs, Chance, Cooking, Decay, Drawing, Drilling, Duck Decoys, Eating, Ecosystems, Eyelashes, FD&C Red 40, Fermentation, Friendliness, Gambling, Geological time, Harp, HazMat workers, Hot air balloon, Human time, Humans, Humus, Hydrocarbons, Icebergs, Inputs, Intimacy, IV Bags, Jesus candle, Lipstick, Manga, Meat, Morphisms, Nurdles, Paraffin, Petrochemicals, Plastic bags, Polyurethane, Rain bonnet, Regrind, Roadrunners, Rubber chicken, Salmofans, Screen time, Seasons, Shingles, Sinkhole, Strata, Styrene, Supersoaker, Takeout containers, Teletubbies, The magic if, The Permian Era, Water

Necrocracy. Governance by the dead.

Human related to humus earth (cf. Hebrew adam man, from adamah ground) Humus "Vegetable mould; the dark-brown or black substance resulting from the slow decomposition and oxidization of organic matter on or near the surface of the earth, which, with the products of the decomposition of various rocks, forms the soil in which plants grow."

Online Etymology Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary

I seek out places or topics in our midst where the dead exert their power, press their demands, grant or deny their blessing, become loquacious, and in general cohabit our worlds. Such places where the dead carry on a secular afterlife include graves, homes, laws, words, images, dreams, rituals, monuments, and the archives of literature, whose voices always have a posthumous character of sorts.

Robert Pogue Harrison, The Dominion of the Dead

and Plastic.

Strata photo and visualizations

Show sketches from before trip Texas.

Show sketches from before trip Texas.

Friendliness.

May all beings be protected from harm May all beings be happy May all beings be healthy May all beings be free from suffering

Metta meditation

the contemporary world retains the power to enchant humans and humans can cultivate themselves so as to experience more of that effect. Enchantment is something that we encounter, that hits us, but it is also a comportment that can be fostered through deliberate strategies.

Jane Bennett, The Enchantment of ModernLife, 2001

Objects, materials, things are part of social networks They form alliances Networks are negotiated Networks deform in the process of translation

(Bruno Latour, Actor Network Theory)

The human is not a constitutional pole to be opposed to that of the nonhuman. The two expressions 'humans' and 'nonhumans' are belated results that no longer suffice to designate the other dimension The expression 'anthropomorphic' considerably underestimates our humanity. We should be talking about morphism. Morphism is the place where technomorphisms, zoomorphisms, phusimorphisms, ideomorphisms, theomorphisms, sociomorphisms, psychomorphisms, all come together. Their alliances and their exchanges, taken together, are what define the anthropos. A weaver of morphisms -- isn't that enough of a definition?

Bruno Latour, We Have Never Been Modern, 1993

"Landfills are, as wespeak, generating lively streams of chemicals andvolatile winds of methane..."

Agency, Nature and EmergentProperties: An Interview with JaneBennett, Palgrave, 2009

What if I were in the same situation as my character? What if? The objective is a goal that a character wants to achieve. This isoften worded in a question form as What do I want?

(Konstantin Stanislavskis Magic If and Motivation)

"Would our political analyses of events change were they to acknowledge an elemental,material agencydistributed across bodies, human and nonhuman?"

Agency, Nature and EmergentProperties: An Interview with JaneBennett, Palgrave, 2009

Necrocracy.

Above Ground. (1)

sinkhole found on a google map.

sinkhole found on a google map.

Photo of sinkhole

Not just Big Empty images

Mesocosm (Wink, TX), 2012

Mesocosm (Wink, TX), 2012

Mesocosm (Wink, TX), 2012

Mesocosm (Wink, TX), 2012

Photo of wink install

HazMat Suits for Children / Mesocosm (Wink, TX), 2012

Mesocosm (Wink, Texas)

2012

Under Ground. (2)

Strata photo and visualizations

Strata photo and visualizations

NeoGeo

2012

NeoGeo, 2012

NeoGeo

2012

Without Ground. (3)

The Inside Story of Modern Gasoline, 1946

Hydrocarbons

2012

Plastikos.

Plastic.

Plastic. PMMA, PVC, PS, PU, PIB, HDPE, LDPE.

Mandy Barker, Soup 2011

Nurdles.

The Petroleum Manga

2012

Install shot

Install shot

Install shot

hokusai

hokusai

hokusai

hokusai

hokusai

hokusai

hokusai

hokusai

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Manga by chemical

Install shot

But isn't it art? It is definitely not art... If it is regarded as art it is easier to deal with, but if it remains as design it is more disturbing, it suggests that the everyday as we know it could be different, that things could change.

Fiona Raby and Anthony Dunne, Critical Design FAQ #10

The relationship we have to living organisms is a passionate one.Our subject rules our lives.We live, breathe, and eat our field of investigation.

Mark Dion,Some Notes towards a Manifesto for Artists Working With or About the Living World, #6

Outside the Work: A Tasting of Hydrocarbons and Geological Time

2013

Estab shot

Estab shot

HYDROCARBON FORMATION (geological time) Organic matter dies and sinks Salt-covered Buried Compressed Anaerobic Heated Floating Trapped Drilled Gushing Transformed into products

HYDROCARBON FORMATION (geological time) Organic matter dies and sinks Salt-covered Buried Compressed Anaerobic Heated Floating Trapped Drilled Gushing Transformed into products

KITCHEN TECHNIQUE (human time) Blooming and settling Salt-curing Salt-baking Fermenting Heating and clarifying Adding oils to water-based liquids Encrusting Melting Artificially coloring and flavoring

Estab shot

Estab shot

Estab shot

Estab shot

Immortal Plastics.

2013

INTAKE PROCEDURE:
1.

Intake, weighing, & documentation take approximately 15 minutes.

ARTICLE ASSESSMENT
Place all of your plastic articles into the bin. If you are unsure if your item is plastic, consult with one of the IP Assessors. We will make an inventory of all articles for your RECEIPT. Articles might include: Lotions, cosmetics, combs; food packaging, water and soda bottles; eyeglasses, hair bands; phones, ear buds, iPads; wallet and contents.

2.

CLOTHING ASSESSMENT
Through a series of questions and/or checking tags, the IP Assessor will help you determine the PETROCHEMICAL COMPOSITION of your clothing. Petrochemical materials in clothing include: Nylon, polyester, elastic, synthetic rubber, acrylic, spandex, rayon, kevlar, among others. They may be found in: Outerwear, shoes, socks, scarves, underwear, backpack or bag, etc.

3.

ITEMIZATION AND DOCUMENTATION

IP Assessor will ITEMIZE your articles and PHOTOGRAPH them.

4.

MEASUREMENT
IP Assessor will place articles or equivalent weights on the balancing scale to WEIGH them. Once weighed, your items will be returned to you, with the equivalent weight in PLASTIC REGRIND, labeled with your information (regrind materials are crushed, post-industrial (pre-consumer) units of pure plastic types* destined to be recycled into new products).

5.

RECEIPT and ARCHIVE

Your receipt will be finalized and given to you. We will photograph your PLASTIC REGRIND and RECEIPT.
* HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS, PU, PET, PIB, PMMA, ABS

From Diatom to Diaper.

In the Permian Period 250 million years ago, dead marine microorganisms accumulated in sediments on the floor of a vast saline sea. Over time, the seas dried out, landmasses moved, and these marine creatures transmuted into hydrocarbons or fossil fuel. In the past century, West Texas hydrocarbon reserves alone have yielded over 50 billion barrels of oil, and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. How and why do we disturb, worship and remain entranced by these long-dead beings? We live under a necrocracy, or the rule of the dead. Immortal Plastics (Marina Zurkow and Sarah Rothberg) is part of a larger body of work by Zurkow entitled Necrocracy; animations, prints, sculptures, a book, and food tasting events examine our entanglement with hydrocarbons, and the relation between human and geological time. Immortal Plastics (IP) Assessment Services determines the depth of participants relations with hydrocarbons. As trained IP Assessors, Zurkow and Rothberg are available on site to offer participants an exam and petrochemical analysis of their belongings. Participants leave with an itemized receipt and a personal keepsake: a jar of plastic regrind, a stand-in for the total weight of petrochemicals and plastics in their personal belongings. The process requires approximately 15 minutes. Part performance, part practical assessment, Immortal Plastics looks at how petrochemicals are at play in ones life. The project leads with the question "What do hydrocarbons want?" and presents immortality as a hypothetical response. By reflecting on our personal relationships with infinitely scalable and long-lived plastics, preservatives, and inputs, participants may come to appreciate their role as a vehicle of hydrocarbons' immortal pursuit. Immortal Plastics makes vibrant our relations with tiny long-dead creatures and gives voice to the intimate agents and operations with which we interact. For more on Necrocracy, please go to: www.o-matic.com/play/necrocracy/
Organic materials (marine microorganisms, plankton, nekton) die and sink in shallow seas. Over millions of years they decay, become salt-covered, buried and compressed beneath layers of sediment. In anaerobic conditions, these forms heat up and transform into hydrocarbon molecules. They float upward, being lighter than water, and form reservoirs, trapped under non-porous rock. Humans go to great lengths to locate, drill and disinter them, disrupting the carbon cycle. Gushing, these hydrocarbons crude oil and gas meet air, technology, and desire, whereupon we heat, crack, and distill them. We transform them into a Pandoras Box of products and processes, and depend upon them to grow food, heal our ills, power our lives, and endlessly entertain ourselves. From rotifer to rollerblade, diatom to diaper, fragilaria to flip flop, coccolithophore to condom: SUM QUOD ERIS; QUOD ES, IPSE FUI.* Without petroleum inputs or energy alternatives as developed and cheap, human activity would take place on a much smaller scale. Humans now recognize that we are a geophysical force. We effect changes in the natural world in human time, and on a geological scale.

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* I am what you will be; what you are, I myself have been (Petrus Alfonsus, Ecclesiastical Discipline)

Marina Zurkow & Sarah Rothberg. 2013. Thank you: bitforms gallery, The New Museum, Domino Plastics

*H

Some steps toward haunting & enchantment.

The Thirsty Bird, 2012

Help it not act like Art. Put the questions in your body. Get it all over you, make it personal and intimate. Dont scale up, rather make it replicable. Ruffle it, trouble it, build in problems, contradictions, holes, & escapes. Use wonder as a gateway to complex relations. Use complex relations as a way to induce wonder. Make time do funny things. Ally yourself with kinfolk, dead or alive. Haunt people with empathy. Use footnotes. Talks, blogs, and teaching all matter.

Thank you.

Marina Zurkow http://www.o-matic.com/play/necrocracy/