“What Is Missing,” intended by Maya Lin to be the last in her series of memorials, invites all of us to bear collective witness to the sudden, massive – indeed, extraordinary – loss of species now underway due, in large part, to human alteration of our air, water, land, and climate. The memorial explains: “One in five mammals, one in three amphibians, one in eight birds, and one in three freshwater fish so far assessed are known to be threatened with extinction, with human alteration of their habitat being the single biggest cause.”
The project is a collaboration between artists and scientists that takes place both online and in various physical locations.
Maya Lin, What is Missing? The Empty Room (2009) Projectors, multi channel video, soundscape. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and What Is Missing? Foundation.
Artist’s Statement:
We are experiencing the sixth mass extinction in the planet’s history, and the only one to be caused by the actions of a single species –mankind. On average, every 20 minutes a distinct living species of plant or animal disappears. At this rate, by some estimates, as much as 30 percent of the world’s animals and plants could be on a path to extinction in the next one hundred years.
The mission of the What is Missing? Foundation is to create, through science-based artworks, an awareness about this current crisis, connecting the disappearance of species to the primary causes – habitat degradation and loss. By creating innovative artworks that utilize sound, media, and science, people will connect with both the species and places that have disappeared or will most likely disappear if we do not act to protect them. Designed as Maya Lin’s last memorial, the project proposes that we look at a memorial not as a singular static object, but as a work that can exist in multiple sites simultaneously.
Artist website: http://whatismissing.net/#/home
