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Climate capsules for a changing world (photos)

Shrink-wrapped people? A German exhibit presents some provocative concepts for adapting to climate change.

Leslie Katz
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Leslie Katz
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1 of 8 Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg

La Parole

How will people protect themselves from pollution and other climate hazards in the future? Artist Pablo Reinoso's giant balloon might be one idea. Two people at a time can stick their heads into the inflatable structure to share a common visual and audio space away from contaminants, storms, and aggressive solar radiation.

The 1998 interactive installation, titled "La Parole," is among the body capsules currently on display at the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg in Germany as part of the exhibit "Climate Capsules: Means of Surviving Disaster."

The museum presents more than 30 mobile, temporary, and urban capsules that in some way represent an adaptation to climate change. "In view of the fact that the politicians are hesitant to enforce strict measures for climate protection and the citizens very sluggish about changing their habits, the change appears inevitable," the description of the exhibit reads.

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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2 of 8 Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg

Inside La Parole

A view from inside "La Parole." Objects in the German exhibit can be divided into five types: body capsules, living capsules, urban capsules, nature capsules, and atmosphere capsules.

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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3 of 8 Lawrence Malstaf

Shrink

Lawrence Malstaf's 1995 installation "Shrink" may not be a viable lifestyle solution, exactly, but it's certainly a provocative one. The artist essentially vacuum-packs a person between two large plastic sheets, with a transparent tube inserted between the two surfaces letting the person inside the installation regulate the flow of air.

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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4 of 8 Lawrence Malstaf

More Shrink

While inside the "Shrink" installation, the person in plastic moves into poses that can vary from an almost embryonic position to one resembling a crucified body.

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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5 of 8 Ingo Vetter

Adaptation Laboratory

Capsules in the exhibit represent attempts to sustain life independent of the surrounding climatic conditions. Ingo Vetter's 2004 exhaust-driven greenhouse "Adaptation Laboratory" joins the fumes rather than trying to beat them.

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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6 of 8 Copyright Dennis Conrad

Oase No. 7, Documenta 5

If air quality ever gets too bad for lounging outdoors, you could always plop down in a hammock inside an artificial sphere. Works on display at the museum by designers, artists, architects, and urban planners include the 1972 installation "Oase No. 7, Documenta 5" by Haus-Rucker-Co.

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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7 of 8 Lucy Orta

Refuge Wear

"Refuge Wear," made of aluminium-coated polyamide, polar fleece, telescopic aluminium poles, a whistle, lantern, and compass, "allows the wearer to isolate himself from the world and create a place of reflection and meditation; a closed, four-dimensional universe, says artist Lucy Orta. "It is similar to a mountain refuge, that is to say a temporary shelter providing a basic comfort where he can stop off before continuing on his way."

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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8 of 8 Courtesy the estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

Dome over Manhattan

What will cities look like in the future? One of the urban capsule concepts being spotlighted at the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg through September 12 is Dome over Manhattan by Buckminster Fuller and Shoji Sadao.

Read more in our related article: "Eco-idea du jour: Shrink-wrapped people"

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