Movebank
Two videos, 3D animations
3 min; 1:30 min

ICARUS Basic tag – Wearable for wildlife
Solar-powered, for tracking of acquiring position and velocity, 3D-acceleration, magnetic field vector and temperature.
Plastic
4,5 – 5 g

Courtesy Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensbiologie, Rohde & Schwarz INRADIOS GmbH, TALOS GmbH

Movebank is an open-source platform developed by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in collaboration with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Ohio State University, and the University of Konstanz. The platform assists scientists and wildlife managers worldwide in collecting, managing, sharing, analyzing, and archiving billions of animal movement data and other data-based information relating to animals. Movement data contribute to creating knowledge and understanding of how animals live, how they respond to the growing impact of humans, and how they influence commonly inhabited ecosystems.

Where are animals moving, and why? How does animal behavior affect the ecosystem, and vice versa? How do animals respond to human interventions in the landscape and to changing climate conditions? What measures can be taken to protect and preserve endangered species? These are just some of the questions that scientists worldwide endeavor to get to the bottom of. Human existence depends on biodiversity. It forms the foundation for providing food, clean water, and numerous other ecosystem services that make life on the planet possible. In a time when global biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, and actions to preserve it are becoming increasingly important, Movebank is a crucial project and tool for gaining knowledge and adjusting our actions accordingly.

Some of the data have been animated for the Frankfurter Kunstverein. They are presented as graphic lines moving on a 3D globe, revealing the routes of numerous animal species during their migrations. Animals travel far across the globe and bridge human-made borders. The lines show where and at what time different animal species are present, revealing a complex global network of habitats and ecosystems.

Biologist and ornithologist Prof. Dr. Martin Wikelski heads the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology. He is also founder of the Icarus project (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space), from which the Movebank project emerged. Wikelski’s team follows the concept of an “Internet of Animals”. Thousands of tagged animals are tracked via satellite in their international movements and migrations, recording their positions, even in hard-to-reach areas such as oceans, deserts, or rainforests.

Movebank is a platform open to both scientists and citizen scientists. Anyone can participate and enter observation data into the database, becoming part of an international network. If tagged animals are missing or their location is indicated as stationary, a call can be issued to all community members to help search for animals in the field. The amount of data collected worldwide allows scientists to gain knowledge about animal migration and behavior, understanding complex relationships between human behavior and animals in order to advocate for conservation measures.

Movebank helps identify the impact of human interventions in the landscape and ecosystems and tracks changes in biodiversity. In Germany alone, an estimated one hundred million birds die prematurely due to reflective facades of high-rise buildings or air pollution. On the other hand, knowledge enables endangered species to be protected and recognizes that secure habitats offer them a home once again. Behind each animated light line of Movebank animation are countless individual stories stored in the database. Migratory populations of zebras in western Botswana, for example, have resumed long-distance journeys after years of short, chaotic routes because fences erected for economic purposes were removed. The zebras followed the original routes of their ancestors, even though they had no personal experience of them.

What the Movebank animation can convey is the extent to which human-made spaces, such as national borders, which animals cross, are relative. It also highlights the danger posed by thoughtless ecosystem destruction. The Movebank animation can create a sense of larger connections, much like astronauts experience when they see the Earth from space. They describe feeling a sense of wholeness when they see the planet without political boundaries, but in all its beauty from a distance, making them realize the profound fragility of life on Earth.

If you, dear visitors, are interested in participating in the Movebank project, please contact local environmental or conservation organizations or visit platforms like “Bürger schaffen Wissen” (www.buergerschaffenwissen.de). In Frankfurt am Main, for example, you can reach out to the following organizations: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, NABU, BUND, or SLInBio – Städtische Lebensstile und die Inwertsetzung von Biodiversität.

Or download the Movebank application on your mobile phone and actively participate in wildlife observation. The mobile Animal Tracker App can display the movements of tracked animals live on your phone. Ctmm: Continuous-Time Movement Modeling offers features for identifying, adjusting and applying random and continuous-time movement models for animal tracking data. Due to its user-friendly interface and accessibility via mobile devices, Movebank is also open to citizen scientists, allowing individuals to participate actively in scientific observations and data entry. Everyone can contribute to observations of animal populations, behaviors, and distribution areas of wildlife and keep records of sightings (online tools: Animal Tracker, Cat Tracker, or Snapshot Europe).

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24 Glass panels from recycled crushed glass and surplus coated solar panels
Each 135 x 60 x 2 cm

Samples
6 Glass tiles made from recycled broken glass and surplus coated solar panels

Courtesy Magna Glaskeramik 

BlueBlocks: Seawood
Samples
Fibreboards made from brown seaweed
Courtesy BlueBlocks

RikMakes: Compostboard
Samples
Boards made from agricultural waste
Courtesy RikMakes

Shards – Fliesen aus Bauschutt
Samples
Tiles from debris
Courtesy Shards – Fliesen aus Bauschutt

Smile Plastics
Samples
Panels made from recycled plastic waste
Courtesy Smile Plastics

Spared
Samples
Recycled shell from the fishing industry

StoneCycling
Samples
Bricks from construction waste
Courtesy StoneCycling

UpBoards
Samples
Surface panels made from recycled plastic waste

The 21st century is on the brink of a radical paradigm shift in how much material is produced and used under what conditions. The linear concept of “produce, use, dispose of” has proven unsustainable for humans to live on this planet in light of scarce resources, exponentially growing waste, and a rapidly increasing global population. To minimize the extraction of natural resources, cycles of production, use, and reuse must be developed. These will not only reduce resource consumption but enable a transformation of economic practices, too.

Knowing, Acting, Caring as the mindset of changed action has produced different stages of production and a range of materials that are no longer just subjects of speculative research, but are available for real-world applications. The young companies selected here represent a new generation of firms that have developed their economic models in the spirit of transformation. Magna Glaskeramik, Blue Blocks Seawood, Compost Board, Shards Tiles from debris, Smile Plastics, Spared, Stone Cycling, UpBoards, and Mogu all symbolize innovative business practices in the areas of New Materials. Recycling, Urban Mining, and the use of naturally renewable and biodegradable raw materials form the core of their product ranges.

The first stage of changed resource consumption involves the approach of recycling current materials. The aim here is to recycle existing, often oil-based materials rather than wasting them. This not only reduces energy consumption through new production but also reduces the amount of waste ending up in landfills worldwide. Recycling thus contributes to conserving our limited natural resources and minimizing environmental pollution. The prerequisite for recycling is the separation of individual materials. As many products are designed as composites of numerous individual components, separation is often difficult, leading valuable materials to end up in landfills. Altered design, new production methods, and more efficient separation of individual materials are thus the new challenges.

Cities and the built environment are constantly changing. What remains are tons of debris from concrete, bricks and various other building materials. The remnants are disposed of as construction waste in landfills. The awareness is growing, however, that demolition can serve as a source of recyclable materials. Urban Mining is a new economy and process that extracts raw materials not from nature but from previously created demolition. In this way, valuable resources from urban waste and old products can be recovered. Techniques such as recycling, reuse, and processing are used to recover metals, plastics, electronics and other resources from households, commercial areas and industrial waste. Urban Mining helps reduce dependence on primary sources of raw materials and promotes a more sustainable use of resources in urban environments.

Shards is a young company based in Kassel that specializes in the sustainable utilization of waste from the construction industry by manufacturing tiles from construction debris. The tiles completely avoid the use of primary raw materials, giving a second life to mineral waste materials that would normally end up in landfills and simultaneously establishing a circular system. In case of damage, they can be recycled into new tiles without turning into waste. The palette of colors and surface textures is produced without the need for dyes and ranges from white, cream, brown, gray, and black to green and blue tones. They can be glossy, textured, or rough. In the production of Shards tiles, the company relies on renewable energy sources, completely eliminating the use of fossil fuels. Due to their sustainability, the company was awarded the Federal Eco-Design Prize in 2018 and the German Sustainability Design Award in 2021.

StoneCycling is a Dutch company based in Amsterdam that likewise aims to reduce the construction industry’s use of primary raw materials. While still a student, industrial designer Tom van Soest designed a mixer that pulverizes demolition waste such as window glass, bricks and concrete. He later transformed this process on a large scale with the founding of StoneCycling. The resulting powder is mixed and fired, with recycled glass serving as a binder. The material that comes out of the oven has stone-like properties. StoneCycling today produces bricks or tiles for sustainable construction projects. In the Bending the Curve exhibition, their products from the WasteBasedBricks series are presented. The bricks are made from at least 60% up to 100% recycled materials, contributing to waste reduction by upgrading from 91 kg to 150 kg of waste per square meter. Production is carbon-neutral and adheres to industry standards. WasteBasedBricks are suitable for both interior and exterior applications and can be delivered in customized shapes and sizes.

The company Magna Glaskeramik, based in Teutschenthal, produces design products using glass waste. For the Bending the Curve exhibition, the company presents an installation with floor tiles in the color Stormy Grey. Magna Glaskeramik manufactures plates from 100% recycled custom glass, consisting of differently colored and fused shards. The color palette includes gray produced from coated solar panels, blue from blue mineral water bottles, green from beer bottles, black from flawed gray flat glass production, and white from waste glass deriving from solar cell protective glass. During the production of flat, solar, colored or bottle glass, rejects, production defects and surpluses of approximately 5% of the total glass production occur. These industrial waste materials serve as the raw material source for the production of Magna Glaskeramik: they are broken into shards in a controlled manner and then undergo an elaborate compaction process called sintering, without the addition of binders or the use of pressure, only by means of temperature and time. The sintered plates are then cooled in special hoods. In the final processing stage, the raw plates are calibrated, polished on request, and cut to the final size. The energy required in the production process is generated from their own solar panels, and the water used in the manufacturing process is recycled and reused multiple times.

The Smile Plastics, Spared, and UpBoards companies present material samples from their product ranges in Bending the Curve, all made from 100% recycled plastic granules. Plastic waste can be molded into all kinds of forms. The resulting new materials have their own qualities and variously designed appearances. They are conceived for a wide range of applications that can be customized as needed. Additionally, the company Spared presents a sample of the composite material Molelk, which is made from recycled shells from the fishing industry. 6 to 8 million tons of shell waste are generated annually in the food industry, with the majority ending up in landfills.

The effort to recycle plastic is not limited to committed young companies in the design industry. Worldwide citizen movements, such as the Precious Plastic initiative, are also dedicated to this cause. The initiative was founded in the Netherlands by Dave Hakkens in 2012. The idea is based on a recycling tool Hakkens built himself: a shredder, an injection molding machine and a compression molding machine. Later, Hakkens made the blueprints for the “recycling infrastructure” available to everyone on the internet under the Creative Commons license, enabling some four hundred community-based workshops worldwide to join the movement.

This second stage of altered production focuses on the development and use of new materials that are organic and biodegradable. These materials serve as alternatives to conventional non-biodegradable plastics and chemicals. They are more environmentally friendly and break down faster after use, leaving as few harmful residues as possible or none at all. Such materials are crucial to reducing ocean and soil pollution.

The wood-like product CompostBoard is based on the principle of Zero Waste. The material is made from agricultural waste and is 100% biobased, renewable, and fully compostable. The fibers for CompostBoard come from the Netherlands (flax) and Belgium (hemp), and processing is done using traditional wood processing machinery and techniques such as milling, sawing and painting. The material promotes a circular economy, as it can be transformed into fertile soil for growing crops after use. The adhesive used is environmentally friendly and non-toxic, as it does not use oil-based substances. The adhesive is non-volatile and environmentally friendly. The compacted material remains intact as long as it is kept dry, offering advantageous properties to the user, such as breathability and a neutral indoor climate. It captures water vapor when the air is humid and releases it during dry periods. CompostBoard begins to decompose when exposed to rain for several days. After 7-14 days in contact with water, the material breaks down and can be digested by worms and insects.

SeaWood is the result of a collaboration between The Seaweed Company, North Sea Farmers, BlueCity, and Circular Factory. They produce fiberboard made from brown seaweed. SeaWood is a 100% natural, compostable and chemical-free board material that can be used as a building material for interior products and acoustic wall panels.

The third stage of transformative economics is currently being discussed under the concept of Regeneration. The term was coined by Paul Hawkens and envisions a shift in all aspects of production, extraction, consumption and reuse of things that people need for life. The central demand is that humanity leaves a planet capable of sustaining further life, and understands and respects ecosystems, climate and biodiversity. This goal can only be achieved through a radical cultural change, accompanied by the use of new methods and materials in as many areas of human life as possible.

Franziska Nori and I met at a workshop on the New Senckenberg Natural History Museum in early 2019. Franziska deeply impressed me with her speech. She said “art can open up new perspectives” and ideally “creates ‘sublime moments’ that have transformative character”. Since then, we have maintained close communication, especially regarding the exhibition “Trees of Life”, developed in collaboration with Senckenberg nature museum, and the exhibition “The Intelligence of Plants”. Why do we collaborate? Why do I, as a biodiversity researcher, find it exciting and meaningful to collaborate with the director of an art institution? And what role do “sublime moments” play?

Biodiversity on our planet is under dramatic threat. In the first Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), published in 2019, it was scientifically established that of the approximately 8 million species on Earth, 1 million species are threatened with extinction. There is a particularly high level of endangerment with over 60 percent of palm fern species, 40 percent of amphibian species (such as frogs, toads and salamanders), and almost 40 percent of coral species. Furthermore, the populations of many species are declining dramatically. The Living Planet Index, which reflects species’ abundance, shows a decline of over 60 percent over a 50-year period. In Germany and Europe, we observe declines primarily in species of agricultural landscapes, i.e. fields, meadows and pastures, with a nearly 60 percent decrease in bird species over a 37-year period.

In addition to species, also natural ecosystems are disappearing and being converted into human-used and often degraded ecosystems. Half of all ecosystems have already been significantly altered. In the last 30 years, the extent of natural forests has decreased by an area equivalent to twelve times the size of the Federal Republic of Germany. In Germany, only 4 percent of previously extensive peatlands remain as conservation areas.

Changes in biodiversity have consequences for nature’s contributions to people. Biodiversity is the foundation of human life: almost everything we humans use is made available through biodiversity. Material contributions from nature include air to breathe, clean drinking water, food, building materials, energy, fibres and medicines. Regulatory contributions include pollination, seed dispersal, natural forest regeneration, climate regulation and the formation of fertile soils. Finally, biodiversity provides a wide range of non-material contributions: beauty, relaxation, recreation and mental health, spirituality, home and identity. The loss of biodiversity also affects the contributions of nature. According to scientific consensus (IPBES Global Assessment Report 2019), all but three of the 27 subcategories of nature’s contributions are declining; the only contributions increasing are areas for food and animal feed cultivation, energy crops (e.g. oil palm) and materials (e.g. cotton). Ecosystems are clearly managed for short-term human productivity.

What are the causes of biodiversity loss? There are five major direct drivers, the so-called “Big Five” of biodiversity loss. First is land use, primarily agriculture. Agricultural land is currently being massively expanded, especially in tropical countries, leading to the destruction of natural ecosystems such as forests, savannas, grasslands and wetlands. In Germany and Europe, the decline of species in agricultural landscapes is mainly due to intensive agricultural practices, including high use of fertilizers and pesticides, large-scale monocultures and the disappearance of hedges, trees, streams and fallow land. Second is the exploitation of species, mainly affecting the oceans; over 35 percent of commercially exploited fish stocks are currently overfished. In addition, climate change, pollution and the introduction of non-native, so-called “exotic” species are significant drivers.

However, behind these direct drivers are indirect or deep drivers that cause changes in land use and species exploitation. These include demographic and socio-cultural changes, such as population growth, increasing per capita consumption of natural resources and a shift toward a more meat-based diet. Other factors include economic and technological changes, changes in institutions and governance, conflicts and epidemics. These factors include increasing prosperity and the institutional and technological capabilities for global supply chains.

From a scientific perspective, it is clear that the loss of biodiversity and its contributions to humanity are already affecting the health, wealth and well-being of many people today. With further declines in biodiversity and its contributions to people, an even larger population is at risk. But what can we do to initiate a turnaround, to halt further biodiversity loss, and ideally, promote biodiversity again?

At the forefront of measures are international agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, established at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and subsequently signed by 196 nations. At the 15th Conference of the Parties in Montreal at the end of 2022, known as the World Biodiversity Summit, new targets were agreed upon. These include the goal to effectively protect 30 percent of land and marine areas by 2030, restore 30 percent of degraded land and marine areas by 2030 and promote sustainable land and forest management and fisheries. The great strength of these agreements is that they are international agreements that nearly all countries on earth have agreed to. Unfortunately, there are no legal instruments to enforce these goals: The International Court of Justice does not address these issues, and there is no world police force. Nevertheless, all countries on earth have a moral obligation to implement these goals, and it is the responsibility of civil society and the media to demand their enforcement.

International science-policy interfaces also play a central role in biodiversity conservation. The relevant international interface between science and policy for biodiversity is the aforementioned IPBES. It is the equivalent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was established many years ago for the topic of climate. The IPBES assesses the state of knowledge and action options for individual world regions and also globally. A key finding of previous reports is that the protection and promotion of biodiversity cannot be achieved through isolated measures. This means that the establishment of protected areas or the reduced use of pesticides, while good and necessary measures, will not be sufficient to preserve biodiversity. Instead, a socio-ecological transformation is demanded, defined as a fundamental system-wide transformation of society as a whole, including politics, law, economy, science and civil society (IPBES Global Assessment Report 2019).

In addition, there are thousands of scientific publications that have examined the impact of humans on biodiversity and the consequences for ecosystems and people. Biodiversity models play a particularly important role in these publications. These models work similarly to the more well-known climate models: they are parameterized and validated with existing data and established relationships, then used to create alternative future scenarios. These scenarios offer alternative futures that predict a positive development, stabilization or further decline of biodiversity depending on the measures taken. A particularly comprehensive and ambitious study by David Leclère and co-authors from 2020 concludes that with a package of three sets of measures, we can stop the decline of biodiversity by 2030 and achieve an increase in biodiversity by 2050. The packages of measures are: 1. large, well-managed protected areas plus ecosystem restoration, 2. productive but sustainable agriculture and forestry, and more trade, and 3. changes in our consumption and dietary behaviour toward less food waste and, for countries like Germany, a more plant-based diet. This study shows, an increase in biodiversity is possible! This is very positive news. We need positive images and stories for the future.

When addressing changes and measures, it is helpful to distinguish between shallow and deep leverage points in the system (Meadows 1999, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System). Shallow leverage points address parameters, such as the toxicity of pesticides. Deep leverage points address thought patterns and paradigms on which the system is based. Measures taken to protect biodiversity have so far focused more on shallow leverage points, such as establishing protected areas. Measures targeting deep leverage points, on the other hand, are very rarely applied. Admittedly, these deep leverage points are very difficult to access. Nevertheless, approaches to deep leverage points, thought patterns and paradigms have enormous potential to bring about truly deep and sustainable, long-term changes toward better human-nature relationships.

This is where art comes in (among other things). The experience of “sublime moments” can shake a person’s thought patterns so deeply that it can create a willingness to fundamentally question and perhaps even change their own attitudes, preferences and behaviours. This is the reason (or at least one of the reasons) why I collaborate with Franziska Nori as a biodiversity researcher. Deep leverage points in a system are virtually inaccessible to natural scientists, but they may (perhaps) be reached through art.

However, initiating a turnaround in the conservation of biodiversity remains a huge challenge. The design of socio-ecological transformations is complex and complicated. The good news, however, is that everyone can contribute to the necessary transformations. To make the number of possible measures manageable and concrete, Friederike Bauer and I have developed a catalogue of ten measures in our book Vom Verschwinden der Arten: Der Kampf um die Zukunft der Menschheit  (Böhning-Gaese and Bauer 2023, Vom Verschwinden der Arten), which we consider to be the ten most effective based on our collective experience. Each measure addresses different sectors of society:

1. Protect 30 percent of the Earth, with 30 percent of that under strict protection by 2030 (politics and conservation). By 2030, at least 30 percent of the Earth’s surface should be effectively protected (not just on paper), up from the current 17 percent on land and 8 percent in the ocean; 30 percent of that, meaning 10 percent of the total area, should have minimal human intervention – as wilderness. These areas can then serve as arks of biodiversity for the future. …
2. Globally increase the share of organic farming to 25 percent by 2030 (politics and agriculture). Organic farming promotes biodiversity. Currently, it accounts for around 9 percent in Europe and only 1.5 percent worldwide. Expanding organic farming, both in Europe and in the global South, benefits the health of nature, crop plants and animals and therefore, human health.
3. Gradually reduce harmful subsidies for nature by at least $500 billion annually by 2030 (politics). Currently, exorbitant sums are spent on promoting fossil fuels, environmentally damaging agriculture and fisheries. These funds must be redirected to support biodiversity-friendly measures such as rewilding and organic farming, and to mitigate social hardships. …
4. Establish global reporting requirements for companies and the financial sector regarding their impact on biodiversity by 2030 (politics and businesses). Such reporting requirements make the negative (and positive) impact of the economy on nature visible and measurable. This is likely to lead to a change in business thinking, a redirection of investments and new business models. Because: There is no business on a dead planet.
5. Increase the share of Green Bonds financing conservation from the current 3 percent to 30 percent by 2030 (financial sector). Currently, Green Bonds primarily focus on climate protection, such as wind and solar power. While this is fundamentally important, we need more financial products that channel funds into the preservation of nature, biodiversity conservation or organic farming.
6. Radically reduce meat consumption to a maximum of 300 grams per person per week, with a maximum of 100 grams of red meat, preferably from pasture-raised animals (everyone). Currently, around 70 percent of arable land worldwide is used for animal feed, rather than directly serving human nutrition. Reducing meat consumption is a crucial step to free up land for biodiversity or human nutrition, even with further population growth. …
7. Minimize food waste as much as possible (everyone, restaurants, businesses). Europe alone wastes 173 kilograms of food per person per year, roughly half a kilogram per day. Minimizing this practice saves land for cultivation. It also helps discover the value of food, is enjoyable and is easy on the wallet.
8. Spend fifteen minutes a day or two hours a week engaging with nature (everyone). Greening the balcony, growing vegetables, taking walks in the park, going into the woods, discussing herbs with others, etc. This engagement helps develop or maintain a closer relationship with nature and a better understanding of its diverse values. You only protect what you love, and you only love what you know. Moreover, it promotes relaxation, well-being and demonstrable health benefits.
9. Green cities wherever possible; balconies, roofs, sidewalks, courtyards, etc. (municipal administrations, everyone). This benefits biodiversity, cools urban areas and enhances our health and well-being. Diversity is important here too: trees and shrubs with flowers and berries instead of thuja, meadows instead of lawns, deadwood instead of borders – and it can all look a little untidy.
10. Media, films, books, exhibitions and educational materials must seriously engage with nature, neither exaggerating nor ignoring it (journalists, educators and artists). The subject of nature must be integrated into the politics and economics sections of newspapers, not just relegated to the “Miscellaneous” or “Panorama” sections. It is about more than koalas, gorillas and tigers: it is about connections, ecosystems and nature as a foundation of existence. This requires engaging stories and images that reach people in various ways and remind us that every individual matters (Böhning-Gaese and Bauer 2023, Vom Verschwinden der Arten).

We can thus see that art has the potential to contribute to the necessary socio-ecological transformations; and maybe it even has a duty to do so?

Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Director Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre

Dog benches (pups), 2023
Weaven agave fibers, plywood structure
Each 67 x 40 x 45 cm

Totomoxtle, 2023
Polygonal multi-colored corn panels
12 m²

Agave Regeneration, 2019
Video
5:34 min

Totomoxtle – Biomaterial Made from Mexican Heirloom Corn Husks, 2019
Video
7:19 min

Courtesy Fernando Laposse

Fernando Laposse views art as a socio-ecological action. For Bending the Curve, the Mexican artist has conceptualized a room installation spanning over 140 square meters, in which the products of the indigenous Mixteco community are presented as exhibits in a staged landscape. Laposse founded a cooperative with them in the rural area of Tonahuixtla, where he combines local knowledge, ecological restoration, social community life, and sustainable economic practices. The artist revitalizes fallow areas, prevents soil erosion, and advocates for food sovereignty and the protection of cultural plant diversity and indigenous knowledge.

In this exhibition, Fernando Laposse focuses on two natural materials from Tonahuixtla: corn leaves and sisal fiber. These natural products are collectively produced, processed in the traditional manner in the cooperative, and transformed into contemporary artworks when placed in a museum context. The colorful Totomoxtle intarsia panels made from corn leaves are displayed on the wall. The Pink Hammock and the three sculptural dog benches (pups) are crafted from sisal fiber derived from agave plants. The two films, Agave Regeneration and Totomoxtle – Biomaterial Made from Mexican Heirloom Corn Husks, reveal the history of the artworks and the Tonahuixtla community.

Laposse began collaborating with the indigenous Mixteco community in Tonahuixtla in 2015. The rural village is located less than 50 kilometers from the world’s oldest archaeological site of maize domestication—a plant that has always played a central cultural and financial role in the community’s identity. The history of this place is marked by socio-ecological challenges that began in the 1990s with the introduction of hybrid maize seeds and the abandonment of traditional farming methods. This development led to a range of problems, including soil erosion, migration, unemployment, and the loss of agrobiodiversity and endemic plant species, especially maize.

Tonahuixtla is not alone in its history; it exemplifies the fate of countless rural communities in South Asia and Latin America affected by the spread of new agricultural systems. In Mexico, agricultural modernization began in the 1950s with a focus on increasing domestic demand. This led to the intensified use of high-yield but less resilient and adaptable industrial seeds that rely on expensive synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and machinery. In just a few years, Mexico lost 80% of its maize diversity. The consequences of these changes were particularly severe in Tonahuixtla, where the soils were severely depleted, and many residents became dependent on large corporations, leading them to emigrate to the United States to make a living.

Laposse, who had been visiting the Tonahuixtla community since childhood, returned there after studying art in London to find a village on the brink of extinction. To signal change and hope for the community, he initiated Totomoxtle: a socio-ecological artistic project aimed at reintroducing native maize varieties in collaboration with local families who had preserved traditional seed varieties for generations and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) seed bank in Texcoco, Mexico. In just four years, more than 50 people were employed, and six endangered maize varieties were reintroduced into local agriculture. Working together with the cooperative he founded, Laposse used the colorful leaves of criollo maize, usually agricultural waste, to create intarsia for furniture and interiors. The name of this new material, Totomoxtle, refers to the indigenous Nahuatl word for corn husks. It is veneer, 0.5 to 8 mm thick sheets, typically made from wood and, in this case, from maize farming remnants. After being cut from the plant, corn leaves retain their color and can be flattened or bent due to their fiber structure. The production of Totomoxtle created jobs locally and motivated the community to return to traditional farming practices. Craftsmanship became a driving force for socio-ecological transformation on a small scale.

In a second step, Laposse and the cooperative sought a solution to the severe problem of soil erosion, leading to the reintroduction of agave plants on a 120-hectare area. Up to 150,000 agaves were planted. Their roots can anchor to rocks, preventing soil erosion, storing water in dry soil, and strengthening ecosystem resilience. However, the use of agave plants in Tonahuixtla differs from their typical use in Mexico. Agaves are usually grown industrially to produce the national spirits Mezcal and Tequila. For this, the agave plants are cleared from the fields, and their leaves are left as waste, leading to insect infestations and potential soil harm from excess leaves. In Tonahuixtla, the agave plants are preserved. Only their leaves are harvested and ground to obtain sisal fibers, which are woven into textile sculptures. The three dog benches (pups) sculptures at the Frankfurter Kunstverein showcase the natural “blonde” color of sisal. In contrast, the Pink Hammock sculpture was dyed with a natural pigment. The red pigment cochineal is produced by a beetle that lives on cacti in Central America.

In Laposse’s reforestation project with agaves, the production of textiles from sisal becomes an act of care that distances itself from the conventional textile industry, which depletes natural resources faster than they can regenerate. Laposse’s communal practice goes beyond sustainability, regenerating ecosystems and communities to preserve local biocultural wealth for future generations. He demonstrates the regenerative power of art to address complex issues and shows how art can provoke not only aesthetic but also socio-ecological transformation. Laposse acts in favor of a financially independent community that operates in harmony with the local ecosystem. Landscape and people join up in Tonahuixtla in an ecologically oriented economic cycle, underscoring the importance of awareness and promoting change, not matter at what level it occurs.

The presentation of Fernando Laposse’s work in the exhibition Bending the Curve exemplifies a whole range of artists who use their art to advocate for the preservation of agrobiodiversity and a shift in agricultural practices through local solutions and research approaches. This includes artists like Vivien Sansour with the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, Marwa Arsanios with her film trilogy Who is Afraid of Ideology?, Jumana Manna with her films Foragers and Wild Relatives, Nida Sinnokrot with the residency program Sakiya – Art/Science/Agriculture, as well as the artist duo Cooking Sections with their art research projects CLIMAVORE and Monoculture Meltdown.

BACKGROUND ON THE FOOD SYSTEM

The climate crisis confronts our food system—agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture—with new challenges, such as rising temperatures, wildfires, droughts and floods. What we eat, how much food costs, where land can be cultivated, and how much food people have access to are closely tied to biodiversity and increasingly extreme climate conditions. An essential part of biodiversity is genetic diversity, which allows species and populations to adapt to constantly changing environments. This also opened up a wide range of options of plants for people to use and grow.

The diversity of organisms living in our agricultural ecosystems is referred to as agrobiodiversity. This includes crop plants, livestock, microorganisms and wild plant species. It is largely a cultural heritage created by humans over centuries, making it a unique form of biodiversity. Agrobiodiversity encompasses not only agriculture and food but also history, tradition, identity, culture, geography, genetics, science and craftsmanship. As the genetic foundation for food and agricultural production, our future depends on it. Agricultural diversity enhances the overall resilience of our food systems, allowing for the breeding of more resistant plant varieties that can better withstand challenges like diseases, pests, changing environmental conditions and other threats. Due to global warming, increasingly harmful pathogens that destroy crops and wipe out entire plant species are spreading. However, today, agrobiodiversity is under significant threat, and so is their contribution to the future of human nutrition.

Like the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis is human-made. The most significant loss of agrobiodiversity began in the 1960s when scientists attempted to improve global food security by increasing the yields of wheat, rice and maize. To cultivate the additional food needed urgently, thousands of traditional varieties were replaced by a small number of new varieties (especially in maize and soybeans). These hybrids were bred using a mix of traditional and genetic engineering methods. The strategy that guaranteed this using new technologies—new seed varieties, more agrochemicals, increased irrigation—became known as the “Green Revolution”. This movement was supported by various organizations and scientists, including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as agricultural scientists like Norman Borlaug. The Green Revolution spread worldwide, especially in South Asia and Latin America, and marked the beginning of modern industrial agriculture in countries of the Global South. The introduction of hybrid varieties was often associated with intensive use of agrochemicals – fertilisers and pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides). Just four agrochemical companies control 60% of the global seed market (and 75% of the pesticide market); these companies thus represent huge market power. The dependence on hybrid varieties, fertilisers and pesticides, and in the hands of a few corporations, has often left local communities of small farmers in financial difficulties, losing their resilience and traditional agricultural knowledge. While new practices and new scientific knowledge have alleviated acute hunger problems in many regions, biodiversity, local food systems, social justice and the health of soils, ecosystems and water bodies have taken a back seat. The Green Revolution spread worldwide, particularly in South Asia and Latin America, marking the beginning of modern industrial agriculture in countries of the Global South. The introduction of hybrid varieties sometimes intensified the use of agrochemicals—fertilizers and pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides). Only four agrochemical companies control 60% of the global seed market (and 75% of the pesticide market); these companies thus represent huge market power. Due to their reliance on hybrid varieties, fertilisers and pesticides and in the hand of a few corporations, local small-scale farming communities often faced financial difficulties, losing their resilience and traditional agricultural knowledge. While the new practices and scientific knowledge were able to alleviate acute hunger issues in many regions, in the long run they sidelined biological diversity, local food systems, social justice, and the health of soils, ecosystems and water bodies.

In response to the negative effects of globalization and industrialized agriculture, protest movements by farmers, agricultural laborers, and indigenous communities emerged in the 1990s, opposing industrialized global agriculture and prioritizing local solutions. They propagated the concept of food sovereignty, which challenged the dominant model of food security as a priority. Food sovereignty refers to the right of individuals and communities to have control over their own food systems, including how food is produced, distributed and consumed. The focus is on local and traditional knowledge and sustainable agricultural practices (agroecology).

Today, several plant species familiar to us from our daily lives are affected by the loss of agrobiodiversity. A well-known example is the story of bananas. Of the over 100 species of Musa paradisiaca (banana) that evolved through natural selection, the seedless Gros Michel was grown and spread worldwide. After Gros Michel plantations were nearly wiped out by a soil fungus, the industry turned to a fungus-resistant variety: the Cavendish banana. However, as a single variety, it is susceptible to new fungi and pathogens at any time. More and more plants that have been reduced to a few varieties are exposed to the dangers caused by climate change: popular examples include Hass avocados, Arabica coffee, cocoa, as well as apples and potatoes, and many more. But above all, plants on which global nutrition depends are at risk of losing their diversity: wheat, rice, and maize. With many farming systems optimised for high yields, people today have major challenges – yields and profits have been optimised in the short term, but in the long term the diversity, resilience and robustness of the farming system has been undermined.

However, there are good opportunities to improve the agricultural system again. In parallel with the Green Revolution, there have been efforts worldwide for decades to preserve species and variety diversity in gene or seed banks. Seed banks are a resource for maintaining at least part of the historically grown agrobiodiversity; with great potential for future food security. There, researchers can find populations and old varieties to breed more climate- or pest-resistant varieties that are better able to cope with current environmental changes, now and in the future. There are now approximately 1,700 seed banks worldwide that house collections of plant species, invaluable for scientific research, education, conservation, and the preservation of indigenous cultures.

The concept of gene banks has proven moderately successful in rescuing staple foods, but it has been much less successful for vegetables and fruits. And while storing seeds under carefully controlled conditions is not easy but feasible, many foods like coffee, apples, peaches and vanilla must be preserved as plants or trees, posing an even more complex and expensive challenge. One solution could be to bring diversity from seed banks back to the fields of farmers, where old varieties can once again become part of the diversity of varieties and further develop our agrobiodiversity.

In the future, we will need a variety of different approaches to have enough good, healthy food available. On the one hand, we need highly productive varieties grown in climatically favourable conditions on good soils, as in Ukraine; this plays an important role in global food security. On the other hand, we need to use local and indigenous knowledge, rediscover traditional varieties and develop them further. It is of great advantage to use techniques that mimic nature, that rely on varietal diversity, diverse crops and landscape diversity, as well as natural pest control. Applying traditional knowledge does not mean going back to the past; it means looking at the various food systems that people have preserved for millennia in harmony with nature and considering how these practices can best be applied and developed within local approaches in the modern 21st-century food system.

Fernando Laposse (*1988, Paris, FR) is a Mexican artist with a degree in product design from Central St. Martins in London (UK). Today, he resides and works between Mexico City (MX) and Tonahuixtla (MX), where he has been collaborating on social-ecological projects with the Mixtec community since 2015. The works created in collaboration with them have been exhibited in numerous international museums and festivals, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York (US), the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (UK), the Triennale di Milano (IT), the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York (US), the World Economic Forum in Davos (CH), and the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven (NL). He has been nominated for numerous international awards and won the Future Food Design Award 2017 from the Dutch Institute of Food and Design in Eindhoven (NL).

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MycoTree, 2017
Mycelium and bamboo
100 x 100 x 150 cm

Courtesy Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture

The MycoTree is the result of a collaboration between the Chair of Sustainable Construction at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Block Research Group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, and the Department of Alternative Construction Materials at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore.

The Frankfurter Kunstverein is showcasing one of the prototypes of the exhibit, which was presented as a central work at the 2017 Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism. MycoTree illustrates how regenerative resources, combined with architectural planning, have the potential to create alternatives to established methods, and building materials for a more sustainable, bio-based construction industry. To achieve the requisite stability in construction, such sturdy traditional materials as metal and concrete are no longer relied upon, given their heavy ecological footprint and depletion of planetary resources. Instead, KIT focuses on stability through modified geometric design in the planning process. Led by Prof. Dipl. Arch. Dirk E. Hebel, a professor in the Department of Design and Sustainable Construction at the Faculty of Architecture at KIT, intensive research is being conducted on sustainable processes and materials for the construction industry.

The MycoTree is a model-like, spatial branching structure that was constructed from various mycelium and bamboo components. The name MycoTree refers to its tree-like structure. The form serves as a model of natural geometry, which is then further developed and calculated by architects and with the 3D-Graphic-Statics program. Within the MycoTree structure, modular components were attached using connectors made from bamboo, likewise a renewable resource.

The MycoTree is composed of organic materials. The white construction modules are made from residues of agricultural, forestry, or textile industries, held together by mycelium. The main production steps envisage particularly controlled conditions so that the living fungus finds optimal growth conditions. The organic residues are sterilized, fungal spores are added to them, and the mass is left to grow at 30 degrees Celsius for several weeks. If activation of the fungus is successful, it can grow at a rate of one to five centimeters per day and colonize the substrate. Once the mycelium has fully penetrated the substrate, growth is halted through drying and subsequent compression. The root filaments of the fungus compact the originally loose substrate into a solid form, replacing thereby the need for toxic adhesives. This also makes the material completely biodegradable. The shape of the containers in which the fungus grows determines the final shape of the module, as well as the success of the living fungus growth process.

These mycelium modules are connected to bamboo parts using connectors to increase the stability of the object. Bamboo is also a rapidly growing plant that can grow up to one meter in height per day. It is flexible and robust, and has played a central role in Asian construction for centuries, including in modern high-rise construction. Unlike trees, bamboo requires less water, no fertilizers, and grows much faster.

However, mycelium material is neither particularly flexible nor tensile. For this reason, a form of innovative architectural and structural planning needs to be developed with the characteristics of organic materials. The MycoTree was created as a prototype and module at KIT Karlsruhe to test its load-bearing capacity.

International research has been conducted on the method of mycelium preparation from organic waste for years, and patents filed. Today, numerous methods and suppliers of different materials exist, whose texture range from light but crumbly to hard and compact. These meet various construction project and interior design needs, such as sound absorption, low flammability, sealing properties, or the ability to be pigmented. In biochemical terms, during their growth both the fungus and the bamboo plant bind nitrogen and carbon, which are stored in cellulose.

The 21st century is on the brink of a radical paradigm shift in how we produce materials for building our living spaces. The linear concept of “produce, use, and dispose” has proven unsustainable for living on the planet in future, given the scarcity of resources and exponential growth of urban populations. To achieve a circular cycle of production, entailing use and reuse, alternative materials and construction methods must be explored and then implemented.

A shift in mindset has occurred in the international architecture context, as shown by the 2023 Venice Biennale for Architecture. However, neither construction practices and the supply industry, nor regulatory and political frameworks reflect the transition to a new way of building. Rapid urbanization, global resource consumption, and the associated ecosystem destruction remain some of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.

Prof. Dipl. Arch. Dirk E. Hebel founded the research institute he leads in the belief that a paradigm shift must urgently make headway in the construction sector. Since 1990 alone, estimated greenhouse gas emissions from the cement industry worldwide have tripled. The global construction industry requires exponentially increasing amounts of wood, water, soil resources and energy. This makes it a major contributor to deforestation, land consumption, water pollution, and non-recyclable construction waste. The extraction of sand that is used in concrete production depletes ecosystems. Sand is taken from rivers, coastlines, and sea beds, leading to habitat destruction for humans, animals and plants.

With a growing population and rising demands, the need for materials and resources to satisfy them is also increasing. While in the past, this demand on resources was met locally and regionally, it is now becoming increasingly global and far-reaching. This phenomenon has led to the emergence of material flows of transcontinental and planetary significance. These have profound implications for the sustainability, functioning, ownership and identity of future cities. The global concentration of the construction industry on a few select materials is putting significant pressure on our natural resources, however. In any discussion of cities of the future, it becomes that clear that they cannot be constructed with the same resources as those employed in existing cities.

Like many other participants in Bending the Curve, Dirk Hebel is an active advocate for circular economic models. This approach views materials as precious, finite resources and actively promotes their reuse and conservation. Efficiently using resources, minimizing waste, extending the lifecycle of products, and promoting material recycling: these are all possible strategies. The time for linear models, where products are discarded after use, must be left behind. A circular economy, a culture based on repair, or at the very least recycling, would have to be promoted politically to ensure that our planet remains inhabitable into the future.