We extract, and transform,
take in and control,
plan and end
and yet we only do so
for our own time span.
 
Millions of years
do I the air
and I the rain
rub the passing stone,

and for a thousand years
I the oak
have a fierce grip
of my surrounding soil,

and I the human
dispose of my product
leaving traces behind
after the 80 years of my life.

Our current production and consumption methods pose a stark temporal contradiction.

Part 1 of the research is exploring the various forms of obsolescence and the discrepancy of consumer goods’ material properties in relation to their temporality. This is further explored on the example of the smartphone ending with an outlook how consumption and material properties could be realigned.

Part 2 then explores how recent developments of synthetic biology could create future production methods incorporating real product life cycles rather than metaphorical ones.

︎︎︎Thesis available on request.