PIECES OF NATURAL HISTORY

Pieces of Natural History is a collection of new hybrid species designed to populate collaborative ecosystems.
Species that inhabits both tangible physical spaces and virtual immersive environments.

Elasmotherium kyivensis + Lemniscata splendens
Oreaster officinalis + Lemniscata splendens

Frog and Bird

There are two points of view in the world: the frog's perspective and bird's-eye view. Any point in between just leads to chaos.

Olga Tokarczuk, Flights, 2017.

THE NATURAL HISTORY

The term natural history has been used since classical antiquity to refer to a set of scientific disciplines based on the detailed observation and interpretation of natural phenomena.

Natural history begins with Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who analyzed the diversity of the natural world. In his work Naturalis Historia of the year 77 AD, Pliny the Elder understood natural history to cover anything that could be found in the world, including living things, geology, astronomy, technology, art, medicine and even magic.

Oreaster officinalis + Lemniscata splendens
Elasmotherium kyivensis + Lemniscata splendens

Natural history was basically static through the Middle Ages in Europe, although in the Arab and Oriental world it proceeded at a much faster pace. During the Renaissance, scholars returned to direct observation of plants and animals, and many patrons began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual monsters in their cabinets of curiosities. The rapid increase in the number of known organisms prompted many attempts at classifying and organizing species into taxonomic groups, culminating in the system of the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).

In modern Europe, the new independent professional disciplines that we all know were established: physiology, botany, zoology, geology, paleontology... Natural history, which had been the only subject taught by science teachers in schools, was repudiated by scientists and was relegated to being a beginner's activity. However, today it is more necessary than ever to recover its cross-cutting, integrating, open and collaborative nature in order to face the serious environmental challenges that are looming on the horizon.

Oreaster officinalis + Lemniscata splendens

Inspired by this wide and fascinating field of study, Carlos Alonso Pascual has designed this collection of Pieces of Natural History. The naming of each piece follows Linnaeus' classification system with two Latin terms, which are borrowed from the species they are inspired by, or from other scientific or cultural denominations. No piece in the collection bears the same name as a biological species.

Oreaster officinalis + Lemniscata splendens

Soft and Weak

The soft overcomes the hard; the weak overcomes the strong. There is no one in the world but knows this truth, and no one who can put it into practice.

Lao Tse , Tao Te Ching, 300 BC.

THE COLLECTION

In Victorian Scotland, the study of natural history was believed to counteract the harmful physical and mental effects of urban life and contribute to good mental health. Currently, the tradition of Natural History forms an important part of the design research studies, especially thanks to bionics, biomimetics or design inspired by life. This collection inhabits both tangible physical spaces and any 3D shared virtual environment.

Here we are

We have become, by the power of a glorious evolutionary accident called intelligence, the stewards of life's continuity on earth. We did not ask for this role, but we cannot abjure it. We may not be suited to it, but here we are.

Stephen Jay Gould, The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History, 1985.

ACTION!

The latest scientific findings are showing us increasingly bleak future scenarios. According to a 2022 study published in the journal Science, life in the oceans is in the greatest danger it has experienced since an asteroid hit Earth some 66 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs.

There is, however, a small room for hope: there is still time to prevent the worst possible extinction scenarios. This collection is a call to action. Natural History Fragments is an ecosystem of hybrid species designed to transform our collective complacency into action.

Oreaster officinalis + Lemniscata splendens

#design #hybridreality #sensemaking #biophilia #inspiredbynature #bioinspiration #awakening #action #metaverse #NFT

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