Here's a powerful provocation from artist Jae Rhim Lee. Can we commit our bodies to a cleaner, greener Earth, even after death? Naturally -- using a special burial suit seeded with pollution-gobbling mushrooms. Yes, this just might be the strangest TEDTalk you'll ever see.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts.
Sign me up for the mushroom burial suit! I'd much prefer my body being a resourced for this planet rather than being pumped full of chemicals and put into the ground. I love the ingenuity and creativity of how this process happens, although the suit looks like a Snuggie.
ReplyDeleteJae Rhim Lee offers a suit embodies the natural processes (and becomes a part of them) that she is researching. In this respect, even when the suit is being exhibited or worn (and not actually doing what it is designed to do), she is using it to deliver her research and connect to audiences. Many people tell me they want one for the future (when I share this project with them). Whether or not they obtain one the design and publicity surrounding it, creates a critical dialogue surrounding standardized burial practices and pollution etc.
ReplyDeleteIve actually seen this tedtalk before and I loved the idea of being beneficial to the environment in a simple way after dying. In a similar way this reminds me of the projects where you can be turned into a tree after you die and things like that, a last small gift to nature.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very ambitious way to look at burial. A trendy death... This is clearly a better option than our conventional burial and I like the idea. Even placing the body in the ground to decompose passes off the chemicals, so this is a way to avoid that. I like this in relation to project #3.
ReplyDeleteThis project is a really interesting way of both looking at our ecological footprint as humans, and also addressing current practices for burial that many people may not be aware of. I for one, wasn't aware of all the excess and rather unnecessary chemicals used, so the mushroom burial suit is a really innovative solution to that problem. This idea I feel is the same concept as a compost bin in an everyday house and while the compost bin is a smaller scale, I feel like at this point people would be more willing to try those than a mushroom suit burial.
ReplyDeleteShe also is making the point that its not just the chemicals used in burial. Its the mercury and other pollutants (like tooth fillings etc.) that become a part of us as we live our lives. So the death suit becomes a platform for talking about larger systems of pollution and sustainability.
ReplyDeleteWatching her Ted Talk and hearing how many toxins are most likely accumulated in our bodies made me sick to my stomach...seriously. She is right when she says it is a result of how we have treated the environment. It's crazy to think that not only do we pollute the earth with our life, but also with our death through burial chemicals such as formaldehyde. This mushroom suit is such an amazing way to rid off as many toxins as possible as your body becomes one with the earth. Never would have thought to combine art, food, science, ecology, life and death into one idea such as this...but I hope this becomes more heard/talked about so that people know this is a potential option rather than typical casket burial or cremation.
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