This memorial is created in a not-so-distant future when human civilization began to crumble: wildfires destroyed most of the Amazon rainforest; the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets completely vanished; some of the most populated major cities drowned and lethal temperatures
in the global south wiped out entire regions; overpopulation and the complete depletion of natural resources led to major water shortages and famine. In this world of total scarcity, humans have been reduced to their primal selves, acting purely in terms of their own “survival” and selfish needs. Greed became the biggest threat to mankind. Amidst outright chaos and in this state of urgency, scientists proposed one last solution: a vaccine against human greed.
The vaccine was not universally mandated. It was met with resistance particularly in the
US where most people would rather die and watch the earth collapse before their eyes than have
their constitutional rights to bodily autonomy and personal liberty infringed upon. And so, the
fate of the earth and humanity was in the hands of Americans who were unable to understand the
significance of their lives and this particular moment in time. The United Nations commissioned
select artists from all over the world to design a memorial that transcends space and time and
serves multiple functions. It should commemorate humanity and this decisive moment in the
Anthropocene when the world had a “choice” to save the planet, and two, create something
introspective that would hopefully persuade the American public to see themselves as geological
agents of change. With funding and approval, the memorial should be easily reproduced and
dispersed in various national parks across the country. Its decentralized nature and positioning in
various protected reserves is to honor the natural world and create a sense of collective memory
of this shared history on planet Earth.
Understanding our “origin story” – where we came from, how we got here and where
we’re headed – is fundamental to overcoming the climate crisis and is a central component of this
memorial. The memorial resembles a nonlinear hallway structure made primarily out of natural
wood, its length corresponding precisely to the chronology of the earth, humans, and the
Anthropocene. Abstract projections of nature and fluorescent light changes in color will
distinguish between the various geological transformations and phases of history. The audience
will essentially walk through geological temporal shifts and make sense of themselves within it.
With this appreciation of the past and an awareness of themselves in the present, the goal is that
people will come out of it feeling empowered to take action and make sacrifices. Whether that
means giving up bodily autonomy to take a vaccine or pledging to commit themselves to the
environment, hopefully the experience of passing through this memorial will solidify a sense of
consciousness so that we continue to move forward, not backwards, in this next phase on planet
Earth.
