Introduction

 Mediated Nature

 Sponsor Trap

 Generation of Extinction

 Archival Environment

 Credits

 About the Artists

Phagamys orthodon
Mus musculus muralis
Hypnomys morpheus
Hypnomys mahonensis
Thyrrhenicola hanceni
Pitymys bavaricus
Mammothus primigenius
Equus hemionus anatoliensis
Equus ferus silverstris
Prolagus sardus
Prolagus corcianus
Nesiotites similis
Nesiotites corsicanus
Panthera tigris virgaes
Panthera pardus tulliana
Panthera leo europaea
Felis lynx sardiniae
Sinotherium sardus
Canis lupus minor
Canis lupus deiesnus
Hippopoesmus sp.nov
Mecodema punctellum
Candibrervus ropalophorus
Candibrervus rethymnensis
Myotragus balearicus
Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica
Capra pyrenaica lusiesnica
Anthicus antiochensis
Aplothorax bunrchelli
Atelothrus transiens
Blackburnia insignis
Chaetotrechiana kiuchii
Disenochus micantipennis
Ishikawatrechus intermedius
Rangifer esrandus

 

 

The Archival Environment

A media archive now spans the globe, and virtual reality adds spectacular depth to cyberspace.  What ramifications do these developments have on the world outside of electronic circuitry?  While humans amass information, non-sustainable use of natural resources continues. 

Despite the present enthusiasm for storing genetic materials and deciphering genetic codes, saving information is not the same as saving species.  Saving species requires environmental conservation.  A growing data bank of genetic base codes is a poor consolation for the loss of habitats and species. Yet Western science seems resigned to the disappearance of the Natural -- even furthering the process with myriad feats of genetic re-engineering. This suspicious exchange is masked by turns as necessity and progress.

These postures of resignation and indifference can be traced across a range of cultural practices. The need for concrete action is often displaced to the realm of bits and codes.  Technological avoidance rituals involving data processing, exchange, production and archiving substitute fiber-optic titillation for conservation.  But the rising tide of extinction has begun to demonstrate emphatically that the ecological crisis is real.  Endangered species cannot seek refuge in castles in the air.  Presumptions of progress must be grounded or abandoned.

Perhaps it is quixotic to suppose that art could interfere with the rising curves of species extinction and human population growth.  Let the experts decide.  In the meantime, NOVUS.EXTINCTUS takes aim at the conventional wisdom that leads us along the information super-highway to a digital wonderland.

 

You may throw nature out the door,
but it will come back through the window.
     -- Proverb recounted by Dostoevsky

 

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