Richard Green 

Earthquake stabilization systems

2019

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Height: 169cm (variable as the cactus grows)

Width: 38 cm

Depth: 29 cm

Acrylic, Aluminium, Echinopsis pachanoi, albiporcata Kenya

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Earthquake stabilisation systems is a lighthearted ongoing project which questions human’s relationship with nature. The cacti on display originate from Kenya and Peru and have ended up potted and placed in Berlin; a climate which is foreign to these succulents. The signs of lack of heat and light serve to show this displacement and questions globalisation, humans ongoing need to control nature, and what nature actually is. The term nature is a manmade word which creates a divide between humans and the natural world furthering the distance between both. Through absurdly preparing a cactus for the possibility of an earthquake, the role of carer for the natural world is questioned, a form of over caring which is flawed. Why would you prepare a plant for a natural disaster? How would this design piece ever protect the very thing it was created to protect? As the project is ongoing, so the overcaring is ongoing; with the possibility of future attachments and upgrades to optimise an object for an absurd endeavour which inevitably is failed from the start.