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This is an interactive installation that visualises the tension between Earth's human carrying capacity and the relentless growth of human population. Drawing inspiration from projected data and narratives about global population dynamics, the project explores this concept using a physical input where the user directly squeezes a model of the earth leading to a possible breaking point.
By allowing users to physically interact and feel the relationship between pressure and fragility, the project invites reflection on humanity’s impact on the planet.
Breaking Point
Human Population
2024
Physical data interaction
Links
ITP/IMA Winter Show 2024
Based on the dataset from a paper by the Population Wellbeing Initiative at UT-Austin Population Research Center "Long-term population projections: Scenarios of low or rebounding fertility.", and the accompanying opinion piece on NYTimes by Dr. Dean Spears, I have considered population projections for the scenario if the fertility rate of the world would be the same as that of US in 2023.
A Force-Sensitive Resistor (FSR) embedded in a squishy physical interface made out of foam, a globe, allows viewers to interact by applying pressure. Once the pressure reaches a certain threshold, a vibration motor goes off, giving the user haptic feedback to indicate the projected peak population.
Process
The piece was showcased during ITP/IMA Winter Show 2024 (images courtesy of ZongShuai Zhang). The display was accompanied by a brief introduction on an iPad mounted onto the monitor stand.
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