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Asia Ward

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Messages in Tardigrade Plastic Time Capsules

by Asia Ward
Person sitting at a table writing
Messengers, time capsule installation by Asia Ward. Photo by Joe Grigar. 2022

Have you seen the Tardigrade-shaped time capsule installation titled Messengers on the third-floor balcony in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History? I am the artist who fabricated those for the We Are Nature: A New Natural History exhibit experience.  My name is Asia Ward, and I’m a social practice and public sculpture artist who is also the Project Manager and Science Communicator for the We Are Nature project. 

Sometimes my two careers combine, as occurred during the time capsule interactive art installation. I was invited to contribute an art installation for the exhibition by Nicole Heller, the Associate Curator for Anthropocene Studies, and director of the We Are Nature project.

In my 14-year career as a science communicator for other organizations, I have worked with museums on prototyping interactive exhibits. The experience of contributing an art piece to a project I was also managing allowed me to get supporting departments involved in thinking about what an art installation could be. I generated the ideas for an interactive exhibit, and through group discussions and brainstorming with colleagues in the Education, Exhibition, Anthropology, and Anthropocene Studies departments, the final project concept was shaped. I then went to work sculpting large versions of Tardigrades out of recycled thermal plastic. Three time capsules were created as repositories for visitors’ thoughts about conditions in 2027, 2025, and 2095, years chosen for their potential to be a time of major change for life on Earth.

I created the Tardigrades to be transparent and hollow, with doors for the deposit of visitor messages. The installation runs from November 2021 until November 2022, and so far, out of all the interactive installations I have created, this has proven to be the most successful and the most surprising. 

sketches of tardigrades
Tardigrade sketches for Messengers, by Asia Ward. Photo by Asia Ward. 2022

Why Tardigrades? 

Tardigrades, otherwise known as “Water bears” or “Moss Piglets” because of their 8-legged chubby resemblance of key features on bears or pigs, are well known around the globe for their survival skills. I can’t seem to do research on them without finding some new fantastic feat they’ve conquered, like being frozen for 30 years and brought back to life, or failing to survive impact from a crashed rocket on the moon. 

Tardigrades, which compare in size with a tiny rice grain, are microscopic creatures found almost everywhere on Earth, from your backyard to the top of a volcano or the ocean. 

I’ve found them by gathering some lichen from my backyard, soaking a section of lichen in water, and then examining the fluid under a microscope, and BAM! There they are, crawling around eating and pooping. I think they’re weirdly cute and very accessible. If you’re interested, there are some instructions online for doing your own research. 

I think what’s most inspiring about Tardigrades is how they have evolved to go into what is termed a tun state, becoming a dehydrated looking blob in a state of suspended animation in order to survive harsh environmental change, and then rehydrating when the environment is more to their liking. For these creatures, whose average life span is three to four months for some species, and a little more than 2 years for others, the ability to press “Pause” when things get tough, is unique. From my interpretation, the tardigrade’s time traveling ability makes them perfect messengers for future Earth. 

tardigrade sculpture
tardigrade sculpture
Two of three Tardigrades in Messengers, by Asia Ward. Photo by Asia Ward. 2022

Time Capsules as an Interactive Exhibit to Process the Anthropocene

Before the time capsules were fabricated, the installation required some thought as to how visitors could best approach the time capsules and feel invited to contribute a message for the future. I worked with the Exhibitions staff for a year to prototype different prompts and test their effectiveness on the floor with visitors. In collaborating with different departments, we realized that the Hub, where Messengers is located, should be a space where visitors can process what they’ve learned and express their feelings about the Anthropocene. The term Anthropocene is the name of the proposed current geological epoch when human activities dominate the functioning of the planetary system. This distinct geological time period is what We Are Nature: A New Natural History explores, using new interpretive panels in 15 existing exhibit areas and related art installations as focus points to help visitors learn more about the topic. 

The final prompts and labels for the Messengers installation were part of what made it so successful. Every week, we get an average of 200-300 messages, many of them very serious, heartfelt, and earnest. An additional factor in its success is the message wall, where visitors can place their messages under the different year headers. During my observations, most visitors go directly to the message wall, reading from left to right every single message. The visitors might have come into the space because of the shiny and interesting looking Tardigrade sculptures, but they stay in the space and contribute because of the prompts and the messages that others have left. 

wall with handwritten messages for time capsules
Messenger prompts and visitor message wall, photo by Asia Ward. 2022

Message wall prompt: 

What are your hopes and fears for the future of life on Earth? 

Each Tardigrade has a designated year: 

  • Many climate scientists say we have until 2027 to take bold action to avoid climate disaster. If humans can keep global warming under 1.5°C (2.7° F), we reduce the risk of catastrophic heat and drought, food scarcity, flooding, and more. 
  • The United States set a goal to have 100% carbon-free energy production by 2035. Achieving this goal will require a major overhaul of the energy system, changing the way we power homes, businesses, and transportation to reduce pollution. 
  • Seven decades separate use from the 1950s, and seven decades separate us from the 2090s. The 1950s are known as the Great Acceleration. Some researchers look back at those years as a turning point when human activities and population growth became unsustainable, putting all life on Earth at risk. 

Visitors’ Feelings About the Future as Part of the Anthropocene Collection 

After reading thousands of messages, photographing and scanning them for documentation, some themes have emerged. 

2027 is within close reach, and messages intended for this time capsule tend to mention pop culture, current events, or personal daily events, worries, or desires. There are references to Netflix series, The Simpsons, comic book-based movies, shootings, the war in Ukraine, Biden, Trump, current unusual weather, COVID-19, the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case, hashtags, and social media handles. Additionally, the same hopes and fears as well as advice from the other years are mentioned. 2027 also leans more into the hopeful. 

2035 contains more hopeful messages, with down to earth fears listed. In the hopeful range, messages list policy or government changes they would like to see and act towards, environmental and social justice, environmental regulation, being rich and famous, completing college and following their dreams, renewable energy and technology reversing Climate Change, climate disaster averted, no more species going extinct, and some general advice as to ‘be kind, compassionate, loving, accepting’ and to vote a certain way, recycle, pray, ‘believe in God.’ In the fear zone, messages list worry about having kids, kids’ future, escalating tension between countries and continued war, more deadly pandemics, natural environment extracted and wasted, too much government control, not enough regulation, and injustice for those with disabilities, women, and people of color. 

ten handwritten messages
Sample of visitor messages for 2095 for Messengers. Photo by Asia Ward, 2022. 

The year with the most messages is 2095. That, for most of us, is far enough in the future where we will be dead, and the following generations will be the ones to read the messages. This batch tends to lead into the fantastical, but perhaps possible? (Dinosaurs coming back, flying cars, interplanetary colonies), the super hopeful (world peace, climate disaster averted, human and non-human rights as norm, world hunger solved) or super fatalistic (humans have killed themselves off with most of the planet’s life, the robots take over Matrix-style, suffocating capitalism or government control, poison by pollution and heightened injustice). There’s also advice about ‘being the change you want to see’ and apologies ‘for screwing you over.’ Personally, I think the reason 2095 has the most messages is because it’s far enough away that it’s easier to remove oneself from the complicated day to day systems we’re involved in (like politics, culture, ethics, and current events), and to see the systems from a bird’s eye view. 

What’s incredible about the messages, is that they come from all ages. From misspelled messages from kids just learning how to write and process the world around them, to older generations thinking back on their life and thinking forward for their grandkids. 

Observing visitors interacting and reading their messages has been the most rewarding experience I could have asked for as an artist and project manager. Visitors spend so much time there, reading others’ messages, then sitting to write down their thoughts. Families come in and it becomes a family activity, sitting around the table, silent in their writing. I’m glad they feel invited to share their thoughts about the future of life on Earth. I read through every message and prepare them for documentation so they can be included in our collection. There isn’t one reading session where I don’t leave both laughing and crying. 

Think about what your life will be like in 5, 13, 73 years. 

What are your hopes and fears for the future of life on Earth? 

If you would like to contribute to the time capsules, please visit before the We Are Nature: A New Natural History exhibit experience ends in November 2022. The message you write and post to the wall will be sealed inside a time capsule at the end of the exhibition. The capsules and all the messages will be preserved in the museum’s collection and opened in 2027, 2035, and 2095.

Thanks to the Gallery Experience Presenter Staff, the Natural History Interpreters, Events, Visitor Services, Education, Exhibitions, Anthropology, Anthropocene Studies, We Are Nature team, and the volunteers for your help making this installation possible. 

Asia Ward is a social practice artist. You can learn more about her work on her website AsiaWard.com.

References

Asia Ward website. Accessed June 2, 2022.

https://asiaward.com/

Bordenstein, Sarah. “Tardigrades (Water Bears).” Microbial Life Educational Resources. Accessed June 2, 2022. 

https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html

Carnegie Museum of Natural History website, Nature Crawl June 10th 2022 registration webpage. Accessed June 2, 2022 https://carnegiemnh.org/event/nature-crawl-21-june/

Carnegie Museum of Natural History website, We Are Nature: A New Natural History webpage. Accessed June 2, 2022. https://carnegiemnh.org/explore/we-are-nature-a-new-natural-history/#:~:text=Carnegie%20Museum%20of%20Natural%20History%20follows%20up%20its%20groundbreaking%202017,time%20to%20our%20own%20times.

Megumu Tsujimoto, Satoshi Imura, Hiroshi Kanda.  “Recovery and reproduction of an Antarctic tardigrade retrieved from a moss sample frozen for over 30 years.” Cryobiology. February 2016. Accessed June 2, 2022

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0011224015300134

Myriam Richaud, Emilie Le Goff, Chantal Cazevielle, Fumihisa Ono, Yoshihisa Mori, Naurang L. Saini, Pierre Cuq, Stephen Baghdiguian, Nelly Godefroy, Simon Galas. “Ultrastructural analysis of the dehydrated tardigrade Hypsibius exemplaris unveils an anhydrobiotic-specific architecture.” PubMed Central. March 9th, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2022.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7062702/

O’Callaghan, Jonathan. “Hardy water bears survive bullet impacts- up to a point.” Science. March 18, 2021. Accessed June 2, 2022.

https://www.science.org/content/article/hardy-water-bears-survive-bullet-impacts-point

Waldman, Ariel. “Tested From Home: How to Find Tardigrades in Your Backyard!” YouTube Adam Savage’s Tested, Accessed June 2, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccmnSXJG3QE

Wianecki, Shannon. “Hawaii’s mysterious water bears.” BBC, Travel. August 21st, 2016. Accessed June 2, 2022. 

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160602-hawaiis-mysterious-water-bears

Wright, Jeremy. “Tardigrada water bears (Also: moss piglets).” Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 2, 2022. 

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tardigrada/#lifespan_longevity

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Ward, Asia
Publication date: July 8, 2022

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Hip and “Trashy” Ice Cream

cows grazing in a field

I grew up in the country, on a gravel back road where the diary truck drove by to fill its tank at the local dairy farms. Those cows, I know now, were living the high life. Grazing idyllic in oak tree savanna fields, with miles of territory to wander. I knew the farmers’ kids. I even helped them with their chores, although not often because it wasn’t fun, even though they said it would be.

My assistance did result in my first taste of milk squirted straight from the udder! The term “Organic” was not used then, but now I know those were family owned organic farms in every sense of the term. No hormones. No cages. Hey, the farm kids even gave the cows names! At the time, my mom would buy name brand ice cream from the town’s market. My favorite was mint chocolate chip ice cream (the green kind). The flavor is super hip right now for being a “trashy” flavor. When I say hip and trashy, I mean in a weird nostalgic unhealthy food like tater tots and grilled cheese kind of way.  Some basic research reveals those cheap ice creams were, for their time, wholesome, waaaayyyy more wholesome than they are now.

Things have since changed in my hometown. Those family owned dairy farms are gone, replaced with mega dairy farms. And ice cream, especially my favorite trashy and hip flavor, has changed into what I consider to be really unhealthy in an environmentally unfriendly way. Palm oil. You might not know this, but palm oil is an ingredient in most frozen desserts and frozen dairy desserts (ice cream with a sub label). Palm oil is high in saturated fat and can affect cardiovascular health. The FDA does not require palm oil to be labeled, and instead the term vegetable oil is frequently substituted. Because most palm oil plantations are unsustainable, their spread across the landscape threatens rain forests, causes habitat loss for endangered species, violates human rights, and impacts climate change. Most name brand ice cream manufacturers currently use the stuff, but don’t want to be identified with its impacts. Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Assistant Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles, and tropical conservation ecologist Jennifer Sheridan has some serious concerns about the palm oil industry and has witnessed firsthand its impacts on rainforest ecology. Check out her work here.

So how do I fix this? Or maybe, how do I get my chocolate mint chip ice cream fix?

First off, during the pandemic, I’ve been making homemade ice cream. I’ve been able to control the ingredients and add in special touches like fresh mint (growing out of control in my neighbor’s garden). Here’s a quick blender recipe I’ve used. When I need ice cream from the store for my movie binges, I choose companies that clearly label their ice cream to be palm oil free. Ben and Jerry’s does this very well. As the ice cream shops open up, I will go local.

bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream with mint leaves and spoon
Homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream.

All of these options may seem high priced or too much work. Surprisingly the homemade recipes are really easy to make, and pretty cheap considering the quality of ice cream produced. The great thing is you can enjoy the process, sit back and not feel guilty about using palm oil, the really unhealthy and not cool ingredient in ice cream. And for me, it takes me back, to when ice cream had ingredients I could point to.

Asia Ward is CMNH Anthropocene Program Manager and Science Communication Fellow. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Air Quality and Urban Gardening

close up photo of hand full of soil

Transforming my ultra-tiny backyard into a garden has been a kind of mental, physical, and spiritual therapy for me during this COVID-19 pandemic. It’s work, even at this scale. But is it healthy? I’m new to Pittsburgh, and unlike my past community gardening experiences at places with better air quality and soil ratings, I now wonder if it’s safe to eat the plants I grow. When I look at the soil, I wonder what more than 150 years of air pollution has done to it. How can I amend past damage, manage the current risks and then eat from it?

I’m not alone in this work. Before I dive in, I want to share a quote by Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants:

“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

Professional advice guided my urban garden work. If you are contemplating a similar project, information at the sites listed below will be valuable.

Resources: amending the soil, soil testing, garden planning, and a cool foraging app

Grow Pittsburgh: Info Hub

University of Minnesota: How to Manage Soil and Nutrients in Home Gardens

Phipps Conservatory: Modifying PH Levels in Soil

Falling Fruit – Map the Urban Harvest!

Resources: dangers and benefits of urban gardening and foraging

The Geological Society of America: Hunting Down Hidden Dangers and Health Benefits of Urban Fruit

EurekAlert!: Risk of Lead Poisoning from Urban Gardening is Low, New Study Finds

Oxford Academic: Phytoremediation of Lead: What Works, What Doesn’t

First Step: Soil Test

The work I did to make my soil safe for gardening began with a soil test. A City of Pittsburgh site directed me to a Penn State University Agriculture Extension Office, where for a $9.00 fee, postage to mail a soil sample, and a couple of weeks’ time for testing, I learned that my typical Pittsburgh soil is full of clay and in need of compost and lime.

My front yard faces a busy intersection and contains lead and other contaminants. I decided to try phytostabilization, which is a cheap way to use plants, lime, and compost to both reduce the mobility of heavy metals in the soil and lower the bioavailability of contaminants to the food chain. I wore a mask and gloves when I tilled this soil because contaminants can bind to soil particles and can be inhaled. I mixed some nearby oak leaves into the soil to break up the clay, mixed in some lime, and planted sunflowers. (Any additions of lime should be done according to package directions about how much to use and when to plant.)

photo of a backyard garden under construction

Soil conditions in my backyard were better, requiring only lime to adjust the pH and lots and lots of compost. The backyard is where I will grow vegetables. I learned during my research that pH and compost are the key elements to healthy soil. If the air quality fluctuates during the gardening season, I will be fine as long as I wash the produce thoroughly before consuming and wash my hands after gardening. Now, after long days of online meetings, I’m able to retreat to my garden and, in good way, work myself tired. I feel better now. I feel happy.

I confess, I’m a renter, and I’m doing this work (with my landlord’s approval of course) even though I don’t own the property. My homeowner neighbors ask me why I care and put in so much energy and money into something I don’t own. I think it’s an easy answer: I live here for now, and I do this work to improve my quality of life, and because “joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

Asia Ward is CMNH Anthropocene Program Manager and Science Communication Fellow. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.