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Speculative Evolution
Cole Krivak and 4 OthersElise EnglishMax Hughes
Paxton English
Max Fuhrer + Privacy: Public
Pax, Max, Elise
Speculative Evolution
Pax
Thesis
A sculpture that provokes conversation on the effect humans have had on Earth and its inhabitants through the lens of speculative evolution. The sculpture features the adaptations of a modern-day animal thousands of years after the extinction of humanity--where it has been forced to survive the extreme conditions and pollution humans left behind.
Elise
Why
Climate change and global warming have been on the edge of irreversibility for years, with hotter temperatures, extreme weather, and rising sea levels being some of the worst effects.
This project aims raise awareness and make these effects feel more tangible, more real, in a way that scientific explanations alone often struggle to do.
Max
Speculative Evolution
A genre of science fiction with a strong base in biology. It uses hypothetical evolutionary scenarios as a framework to create fictional organisms.
- Alternate history
- Alien biology
- Paleontology
- And more!
Max
Pollution filled the air causing breathing problems, buildings collapsed faster than they could be re-built, or repaired. Humanity became reliant on technology that was advancing quicker than it was possible to keep up with. Power plants collapsed, requirements for electricity became critical, devices people blindly relied on began to fail. Food shortages became a huge problem, people became desperate. The flooded roads, and unpredictable weather patterns were the perfect breeding ground for harmful bacteria populations. Uncontrollable sicknesses spread, and developed at a pace and intensity that wasn’t sustainable; most people died of diseases, while others starved. The rich left in rockets never to return, and what was left of humanity didn’t survive much longer. In a world no longer inhabited by humans, a world of gray skies, and flooded terrain, remaining life suffered. Domesticated animals died out quickly, larger animals that relied on their specific habitats could not evolve quick enough. In these remains there were survivors, adapted to scavenge, wade through flooded areas, and breathe toxic polluted air. Nocturnal animals adapted more easily to the darker skies, semiaquatic, and aquatic creatures adjusted quickly to the climate and ever-changing terrain; while creatures with wings didn’t experience a large impact. Housing, and living spaces became easier to find due to the drastic decrease in populations. Food was an issue, but scavengers didn’t have much difficulty finding food as they just needed their diets to evolve.
story-
maybe If time allows and It doesnt mess up the format I could read this out (not putting It In the presentation) to set a scene so preople really kind of understand the end goal before we get to It. you know? they hear this then theyre Interested In how we did It- and then Its a segway Into how we did the thing
The Living Condition
Abridged version of story touching on key points
This is a story you may find familiar. As you know, the effects we have had on the Earth are grave. Predictions and sci-fi scenarios generally stay consistent to these main points: pollution worsens, technology becomes something people can't live without, and human resources begin to run out--but we wanted to explore the world after the extinction of humans. As air pollution spread, breathing became difficult. Power plants failed, food became scarce, diseases spread rapidly, and extreme weather caused uncontrollable flooding. Eventually, humanity disappeared, leaving behind flooded cities, gray skies, and abandoned buildings. But Earth's story didn't end with humanity. While many species went extinct, others adapted. Animals that could survive polluted air, darker environments, and rising water levels survived. We wanted to imagine what one of those creatures might look like.
Elise
First Explorations
Max
To begin we looked at a bunch of different animals, sea creatures, land animals, flying animals, real or fictional, just anything that we could derive some sort of inspiration from
Pax
Precedents
Conceptual Precedent
Name: Ecosystem of Excess
Creator: PINAR YOLDAS
Technical Precedent
Creator: KaypeaCreations
Visual Precedent
Name: Animal sculpture -
Sarina Brewer
We found a conceptual precedent that was very helpful in forming our thesis, this project created creatures that evolved to live in todays ocean.
Elise
elise you know what to say about this...
This is just a interesting creature, that is in the same style we want to do for our project.
We started looking into basic speculative evolution, and began drawing practices
For this project we will be using speculative evolution to inspire a creature based off of an animal that already exists. With this thought experiment we want to inspire ourselves and others, to think out of the box and explore biology. After we decide on a design we will use different methods of fabrication and mediums of art to bring it to life.
Early Exploration + first thesis
Speculative Evolution Explorations
Max
To begin we did some simple explorations into speculative evolution through sketching. we took animals that we liked imagined what they would look like if they evolved to live in a different environment
More Explorations
Pax
This was followed by more explorations as well as general drawings practice and ideating for potential creatures we would make.
What we actually wanted to make
Sculpture Piece
- Resembles the animal we come up with
- High Fidelity
- Material practice
- Full scale
Max
General reading of of the slide
Second Explorations
Elise
Framework
Max
In this stage of the process we created a framework that could referenced when creating new animals that would ensure it fit into the context of the world we created
This framework centered around a mammal that would adapt to live in the ocean
From this we went back into sketching, this time with more of a purpose for what we were designing
We took into account, things like diet, habitat, and potential living conditions
We made a list of environmental factors that would effect evolution
Aquatic Racoon
- A Racoon that has evolved for life in flooded cities
- Adjusted diet: sea vegetation, fish, shell fish.
- Marine creature adaptations: Fins, webbing,
- Natural Camo using algae growth and plastic scraps
Aquatic Fox
- A fox that has evolved to inhabit life in flooding areas
- Adjusted Diet: fish, sea vegetation, land mammals
- Marine creature adaptations:
Fins, water resistant, cold resistant, longer lung
capacity, larger jaw
- Reflective scales used for camouflage and reflecting light
- Aggressive and very territorial
Speak about disgreement sourrounding these
Max+Pax
Pax and max explain the two creatures
Our final decision
Explain reasons for decision
Max
After meeting with the coaches and back and forth within the options we created and we stepped back and decided on a new creature, BAT.
This decision benefited us for a few reasons. 1 bats are really interesting looking, 2 we all agreed on it. Also at this point we spent all of our time deciding on a animal and only had like, a week left in Open innovation.
Animal Details
Bat being deep sea vs mroe like a pinniped. physical features lifestyle etc.
Design 1:
- Deep sea inspired
- Thinner
Design 2:
- More pinniped inspired
- Thicker limbs
- More hair
Max
Fabrication
Max
These were the references we went off of for the creation of the creature
Plans
Pax
Painting
Elise
Our INCREDIBLE coach Orion created a painting, that represented what we wanted the creature to look like.
Armature
Max
To begin we created an armature that we would build on top of
The Body
Pax - All of body slides
We created a body out of wire, but because we planned to cover the body in air dry clay the big gaps bewtween wires would not work
Tin Foil Body
So we made a second version out of tinfoil that had connection points for all of the different body parts we would create
The Head
Max - All of head slides
Next was the head, which I modeled in ZBrush, and then made a mold out of,
This mold was printed and cast out of silicone
First Cast
This was the result of the first cast, its looked really good. But it was smaller than we needed it to be and also had a few to many air bubbles
Final Cast
I reprinted the mold and cast it again. This time i brushed in the silicone to the small spots before injecting it.
Wings
Elise- All of wing slides
First the wing was sculpted from clay over a wire and foam base it
3d Scanning
in order to ensure that the two wings we needed looked the same the clay wing was 3D scanned and then turned into a mold.
Mold Making
This mold was printed and cast, but this one had a wire armature inside of it that would allow the wing to be posed.
Casting
This is how it turned out
Tail
Max - All of tail slides
3D Scanning
Mold Making
Casting
Ornamentation
Elise
Assembly
Max
Process photos
Linking parts
Pax
all the parts were assembled
Clay Connections
Max
the connections were reinforced by clay
Fur!
Elise
FURURURUFRUFUFUFURFU
Details
Elise
EYES+ MAnicure
Painting and Coloring
Max
Final Photo
Pax
Thank You!
Project Paragraph:
We created a sculpture that aims to provoke conversation on the effect humans have had on Earth and its inhabitants through the lens of speculative evolution. The sculpture features the adaptations of a modern-day Bat thousands of years after the extinction of humanity--where it has been forced to survive the extreme conditions and pollution humans left behind, resulting in a semi-aquatic Sea Bat. The Sculpture was crafted from a series of silicone cast pieces, clay, wire, and many more mediums.
Project Story:
As you know, the effects we have had on the Earth are grave. Predictions and sci-fi scenarios generally stay consistent to these main points: pollution worsens, technology becomes something people can't live without, and human resources begin to run out--but we wanted to explore the world after the extinction of humans.
As air pollution spread, breathing became difficult. Power plants failed, food became scarce, diseases spread rapidly, and extreme weather caused uncontrollable flooding. Eventually, humanity disappeared, leaving behind flooded cities, gray skies, and abandoned buildings. But Earth's story didn't end with humanity. While many species went extinct, others adapted. Animals that could survive polluted air, darker environments, and rising water levels survived. We wanted to imagine what one of those creatures might look like, so we created a sculpture that hopefully provokes conversation on the effect humans have had on Earth and its inhabitants through the lens of speculative evolution.
As you know, the effects we have had on the Earth are grave. Predictions and sci-fi scenarios generally stay consistent to these main points: pollution worsens, technology becomes something people can't live without, and human resources begin to run out--but we wanted to explore the world after the extinction of humans.
As air pollution spread, breathing became difficult. Power plants failed, food became scarce, diseases spread rapidly, and extreme weather caused uncontrollable flooding. Eventually, humanity disappeared, leaving behind flooded cities, gray skies, and abandoned buildings. But Earth's story didn't end with humanity. While many species went extinct, others adapted. Animals that could survive polluted air, darker environments, and rising water levels survived. We wanted to imagine what one of those creatures might look like, so we created a sculpture that hopefully provokes conversation on the effect humans have had on Earth and its inhabitants through the lens of speculative evolution.