The Internet Fossil Curios
‘The Internet Fossil Curios’ is a speculative future research project utilising a temporary exhibit and archival book to document anthropogenic Internet fossils. The contextual future is set one thousand years from now in a world depleted of all natural resources and scarred from material extraction. Research is conducted through the perspective of ‘The Society of Fossil Archival & Material Renewal’, a fictional society that aims to highlight the material value of these fossils. They contain hybrid materials resembling Plastiglomerate - a fusion of plastic and rock, which has deeply informed the project’s methodology. Acting as anthropogenic markers, they remind us of the permanent trace that our improper treatment and recycling of digital objects leaves behind.
The naked bound archival book references N.Wooster’s ‘Semi-Precious Stones’ through its small size and fragility. It is protected by a sealed plastic wallet that was once used to transport digital components, embodying the problematic origin of the ‘future fossils’. This is also explored within the book through cataloguing the abundance of mass-produced electronic objects found in the present time. As a solution to this, the society proposes to extract and separate the plastic, gold and copper found within them so that they can be re-used in other essential objects. This creates a closed-loop lifecycle, bringing the materials back into circulation.
Before their materials are renewed, the fossils are exhibited to the public, echoing archeological artefacts. However, the traditional attitude of possessing and storing historical objects is challenged through the deconstruction and transformation of the fossils. It intends to make us question the way we record and display ‘artefacts’. We as a society put pre-conceived value upon objects, but why is it, that certain objects are valued more than others?
The naked bound archival book references N.Wooster’s ‘Semi-Precious Stones’ through its small size and fragility. It is protected by a sealed plastic wallet that was once used to transport digital components, embodying the problematic origin of the ‘future fossils’. This is also explored within the book through cataloguing the abundance of mass-produced electronic objects found in the present time. As a solution to this, the society proposes to extract and separate the plastic, gold and copper found within them so that they can be re-used in other essential objects. This creates a closed-loop lifecycle, bringing the materials back into circulation.
Before their materials are renewed, the fossils are exhibited to the public, echoing archeological artefacts. However, the traditional attitude of possessing and storing historical objects is challenged through the deconstruction and transformation of the fossils. It intends to make us question the way we record and display ‘artefacts’. We as a society put pre-conceived value upon objects, but why is it, that certain objects are valued more than others?