SERIES | Cosmic Companions
A multiform research project about a colony of tardigrades who crash-landed on the moon. Tardigrades, known colloquially as moss piglets or water bears, are microscopic animals found living in moist environments across all habitats of the world. They are one of the only animals known to have survived all five mass extinctions. Following the crash of a spacecraft in 2019, they are also the first known Earthling to (potentially) reside on the moon.
This spacecraft was carrying the Arch Lunar Library: a time capsule containing a microscopic library to represent all of humanity, designed to exist in space for billions of years. Within this archive was organic material, including a colony of tardigrades. Incredibly hardy creatures, tardigrades have previously been observed to survive the pressures of outerspace, and so since the crash-landing on the moon are possibly still alive, if in a somewhat dormant, desiccated state they were put into to travel.
For more detail about my research behind the project, read my essay on the ‘Platform for Art Research in Collaboration’ (PARC) here.
