A New Niche for Nature

Prototype for A New Niche for Nature, module II, module III Materials: Cardboard, pins, 140 cm x 115 cm x 130 cm, 102 cm x 120 cm x 102 cm The cardboard sculptures imagine artificial niches for new plant life to start growing upon. The possibilities of material from which functional structures could be made is still undecided. The work was inspired by artificial bio filters and also by the natural process of the breaking down of natural debris like twigs, tree branches and trunks which have fallen into the river and been taken by the water. These form small natural islands where new life can start growing again unless or until swept away by the flow of the river. Natural debris in the river is itself a source for new organisms to grow upon, working as a cleansing filter for the water. The small shape (A New Niche for Nature, module II) has an approximate surface area of 21.5 m2. In the right circumstances on this surface area 214,691 seedling plants would be able to grow / germinate. This area can also sustain a minimum of 0.344 x 10 trillion yeast cells or 1.653 x 10 trillion bacterial cells. Acknowledgment: Walter Dewitte for the calculations, Cardiff School of Bioscience