May Abdalla and Monica Gagliano - Messages from a Post Human Earth (In Conversation)

Monica and May discuss their fascinating collaboration on Messages from a Post Human Earth.

“Not everything everywhere is for us.” Stanislaw Lem, The Invincible

‘Hello human person. In a moment you will be asked to face the future. A world without you. A world after you. The person with you will explore the past, and so you will have to lose each other. But not yet…’

MESSAGES TO A POST HUMAN EARTH is an interactive, multi-sensorial journey through the beautiful grounds of the Orleans House Gallery, where you and your partner will embark on an evocative audio journey featuring augmented reality (AR), to reimagine your relationship with the natural world.

The story explores the work of Monica Gagliano and an essay by science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, which he wrote for the Human Interference Task Force in the 1980s. Lem’s essay was written in response to a request for ideas of what to do with nuclear waste and its incredibly long life span; he suggested encoding messages into the DNA of plants. Gagliano is well known for her research into plant intelligence and the behaviours that demonstrate memory by the Mimosa plant.

Designed for two people to experience together, you will be provided with a special device and props before being sent off to explore the natural world; a hearing, living thing, sensorially alert like you.

You and your partner’s short journeys are different but will work in synchronicity with the other. Like a symbolic choreography, both of your actions become a performance for the other.

Invisible to the naked eye, the audio narration and AR content comes to life to invite musing on the living environment and a future world in which humans will no longer be present.