Johanna Schmeers’ installation *The Outside Inside* explores terraforming, biodiversity, and the future of nature and technology across nine ecosystems.
- Project participants
- Johanna Schmeer (Overall Concept, Installation, Filming), Anna-Luise Lorenz (Video Animation), Sam Conran (Electronics, Sound Design)
- Year of publication:
- 2017
- Places:
- Berlin, Essen
- Work category:
- Interactive Installation
- Related partners:
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- Sponsored by:
- Futurium Museum Berlin
“The Outside Inside ” was created as a contribution to Futurium’s permanent exhibition and is also an ongoing experiment. Designer and artist Johanna Schmeer has been exploring for years the question of at what point biology becomes technology—and when nature ceases to be “natural.” With her installation, she explores the concept of terraforming: the deliberate reshaping of habitats through technological or biological interventions. What was previously considered primarily science fiction is now increasingly being seriously discussed in the context of the climate crisis.
In nine terrariums, plants, fungi, and lichens thrive under simulated climate conditions of the year 2100. Amaranth plants sequester CO₂ in salty, dry soils. Lichens reflect light and protect Arctic permafrost from thawing. Oyster mushrooms absorb heavy metals from the soil and prepare it for other living organisms. Sensors measure the organisms’ activities and—using software by sound artist Sam Conran—transform them into binaural sounds that can be experienced through headphones. Here, technology serves not only to simulate, but also to facilitate communication: between humans and non-humans.
The installation does not seek ready-made answers, but rather leaves contradictions open: Does it make sense to deliberately design ecosystems? Who decides this—and by what standards?
