Proposals for a Prevailing World – Vol.I

We’re in the midst of the sixth mass extinction and it’s business as usual. The calamity we’re living through is so abstract that the scale of species lost due to human activity is unfathomable. ‘Proposals for a Prevailing World – Vol.I’ tries to find a way to express something that can’t be expressed, listing all known extinct species from 1800 onwards and offering ways to measure them in relation to rapid urbanisation. How long would they be if they were placed end-to-end on 5th Avenue? What volume would they occupy if one of each were cremated and all ashes were combined? By packaging real animal ash in a symbol of urban development, Joppe Broers creates a simultaneous ‘ode’ to humans prevailing on Earth and a memorial to the lost inhabitants.