/ Letters from Paradise /
Disclaimer: Apologies for the sound's very low quality - I'll fix that one day.
Letters from Paradise is an animation triptych that extrapolates the current understanding of synthetic biology while raising questions about what defines natural and artificial. It looks possible applications for man-made atolls (coral-based islands) in International Waters and how that would pose a series of geopolitical and moral challenge to existing agreements regulating their use.
Letter 1 - We can imagine Paradise in different ways, but the collective mind materialises it in sunny unspoiled sandy beaches [1]. This is what InstaReef® offers; to grow your dream in the ocean so by the time you retire, your island will be there waiting for you.
[1] Google search images of ‘Paradise’
Letter 2 - There is a general growing discontent with governments and political systems, the world seems to be entering a long Spring where the target are not only institutions, but the very notion of democracy. If broken states can’t be fixed, are there other alternatives to start anew? Is growing your own city-state the solution?
Letter 3 - In 2007 Japan attempted to artificially increase its territorial waters [2], the experiment failed. Developments in synthetic biology have since allowed countries to secretly grow natural-like islands in order to constitute valid territorial claims in international waters and gain access to their mineral and hydrocarbon resources.
Year: 2014