Work Title：(Un)natural Selection: Intervention and the Reshaping of Nature

 

Author: Sun Yayue

 

Creation time: 2025

 

Introduction: in human-nature relationship, transformation and control have long become habitual. Humans intervene in natural environment and reshape other forms of life to satisfy personal desires, aesthetic preferences and utilitarian needs, such interventions often defy nature's balance, affect species adaptive abilities, and trigger long term ecological and ethical consequences.

 

The wearable installation reveals human control over ornamental plants. The inspiration comes from the constraints that pine trees experience when they are shaped as bonsai. I used real plants and a responsive Arduino-coded light panel that reacts to human presence. It allows viewers and those who wear the installation to realize the negative impacts of our interventions, prompting reflection on ethical design.

 

The AR face-mapping special effect visualizes humans’ aesthetics-driven interventions in goldfish. The inspiration comes from my observation and study of the origin of goldfish. I found that many popular goldfish traits are unhealthy and damaging. This special effect creates distortions on the user’s face, projecting the manipulations once imposed on animals back onto humans. It encourages reflection on human control and the boundaries between nature and human design.