We all poop and pee every day and therefore, our discarded excrement is also our great social equalizer. Now, in a time when San Francisco is so economically divided and the world so socio-politically divided, our waste is a humble force that not only links us to one-another, but is an insight into ourselves, and our environment. Our waste is also not waste, but rather connects us to the natural world around us, revealing how we are part of a cycle contributing to, and receiving from our surroundings.
PProphet begins with a simple daily act: peeing into the funnel in the circle room. The urine travels through a struvite machine, which separates the urine into potable water, salt, and fertilizer valuable for plant life. The water and the fertilizer are portioned out and used to support the triangle garden of yerba buena and oranges. The installation is a microcosm of the global nutrient cycle.
PProphet can be interpreted in multiple ways: 15P (phosphorus) is one of the most critical resources for our survival; it is the molecular backbone of all living tissue, and plays a fundamental role in agriculture, but is undervalued in our current economic system. At the same time, with sensors and analysis, there are over 300 variables we can read in your urine, from the basics of how dehydrated you are, to what VOC’s and other chemicals you have consumed or been exposed to. This installation addresses this feedback loop by highlighting issues of data privacy: who holds the data that reveals the chemical exchanges in our environment and in our bodies and how might they profit from this data?
As people interact with PProphet over a six-month period, we will learn from the material transformations, data generated and resulting dialogues. This is a working laboratory—what you see is our lab in process. These are actual technologies we’re developing and will be here weekly to tinker.
We all poop and pee every day and therefore, our discarded excrement is also our great social equalizer. Now, in a time when San Francisco is so economically divided and the world so socio-politically divided, our waste is a humble force that not only links us to one-another, but is an insight into ourselves, and our environment. Our waste is also not waste, but rather connects us to the natural world around us, revealing how we are part of a cycle contributing to, and receiving from our surroundings.
PProphet begins with a simple daily act: peeing into the funnel in the circle room. The urine travels through a struvite machine, which separates the urine into potable water, salt, and fertilizer valuable for plant life. The water and the fertilizer are portioned out and used to support the triangle garden of yerba buena and oranges. The installation is a microcosm of the global nutrient cycle.
PProphet can be interpreted in multiple ways: 15P (phosphorus) is one of the most critical resources for our survival; it is the molecular backbone of all living tissue, and plays a fundamental role in agriculture, but is undervalued in our current economic system. At the same time, with sensors and analysis, there are over 300 variables we can read in your urine, from the basics of how dehydrated you are, to what VOC’s and other chemicals you have consumed or been exposed to. This installation addresses this feedback loop by highlighting issues of data privacy: who holds the data that reveals the chemical exchanges in our environment and in our bodies and how might they profit from this data?
As people interact with PProphet over a six-month period, we will learn from the material transformations, data generated and resulting dialogues. This is a working laboratory—what you see is our lab in process. These are actual technologies we’re developing and will be here weekly to tinker.
We all poop and pee every day and therefore, our discarded excrement is also our great social equalizer. Now, in a time when San Francisco is so economically divided and the world so socio-politically divided, our waste is a humble force that not only links us to one-another, but is an insight into ourselves, and our environment. Our waste is also not waste, but rather connects us to the natural world around us, revealing how we are part of a cycle contributing to, and receiving from our surroundings.
PProphet begins with a simple daily act: peeing into the funnel in the circle room. The urine travels through a struvite machine, which separates the urine into potable water, salt, and fertilizer valuable for plant life. The water and the fertilizer are portioned out and used to support the triangle garden of yerba buena and oranges. The installation is a microcosm of the global nutrient cycle.
PProphet can be interpreted in multiple ways: 15P (phosphorus) is one of the most critical resources for our survival; it is the molecular backbone of all living tissue, and plays a fundamental role in agriculture, but is undervalued in our current economic system. At the same time, with sensors and analysis, there are over 300 variables we can read in your urine, from the basics of how dehydrated you are, to what VOC’s and other chemicals you have consumed or been exposed to. This installation addresses this feedback loop by highlighting issues of data privacy: who holds the data that reveals the chemical exchanges in our environment and in our bodies and how might they profit from this data?
As people interact with PProphet over a six-month period, we will learn from the material transformations, data generated and resulting dialogues. This is a working laboratory—what you see is our lab in process. These are actual technologies we’re developing and will be here weekly to tinker.
