Have you ever seen *Alien: Covenant (2017)? T*he production design is extraordinary - and horrifying. Each alien biological element - e.g. black flowers that release animate and infectious floating pollen - is palpably imbued with malice. In fact, the entirety of the film - with its alien script and architecture, and weathered blue-green-grey ship hulls - is seamlessly permeated by a foreboding, despairing tint. It’s **remarkably **consistent. The exceptions - e.g. a small warm fire in a dark expansive stone clearing - are stark and fragile, sardonically daring you to hope for the characters. Don’t.

When I watch that film, and after, I wonder:

What worlds might be created with the same skill and far more benevolence?

• Perhaps, instead of reaching into the stars and finding a pre-existing horror story that~smites us for our adventurousness & curiosity, a crew of humans reach out and persevere through challenges to build new wonders (e.g. in the manner of the art of Astralist John Harris)
• Instead of inevitably using our technological prowess to build insane malicious cybernetic humanoids (Michael Fassbender is amazing as David though), we take a thoughtful and humanistic approach to developing technology and construct myriad life-enhancing tools. (e.g. with a new philosophy of progress; see also why progress needs futurism)
• Lastly, what if, instead of each encounter with biology being profoundly malevolent, as in the film - our encounters with other organisms were healthy, beautiful, delightful*?*

I think some such aspirational scenes would feel much like Zilker park. Instead of treading on malevolent alien flora, one walks on soft even grass - perhaps barefoot. Instead of being surrounded by various hungry aliens (or actual historic threats like wolves), one is surrounded by hungry dogs, with myriad delightful coats and personalities, drooling and staring expectantly. Instead of running for our lives, one might sling a tennis ball or frisbee. And, if a rabid bat happens to pop up, we can do things like airdrop rabidity vaccine bait.

Maybe one is out of town on a horse - or driving to a picnic beneath a tree - walking greenbelt paths listening to birds -  falling asleep in a tent in the Hill Country to the sounds of crickets. Other might scenes involve baking, brewing, gardening, landscaping, or any of the other many splendid experiences we have (or could conceivably have) interacting with other organisms.

I see this cross-section of interactions as:

A) Enjoyable in a distinctive manner (inverse to how the many different biological interactions portrayed in Alien are distinctly grotesque and terrifying)

B) Design-able in a distinctive manner (i.e. usefully categorized as a ~medium)

C) Made possible through thoughtful, intentional augmentation of inorganic and organic aspects of our environment (to create tools, cars, tents, medicines, sourdough starters, glass jars, dog breeds, forest paths, stables, snacks, harvesters, frisbees, and safe homes with lightening rods and light bulbs and house plants to return to)

D) Improvable, by the same means

Alien: Covenant portrays a future world in which humans fight to survive in an unknown, inhospitable world - so rendered by alien biotechnology and our own misguided choices. The experience represented in the film is not entirely fictional - nor is it our inevitably dark future trajectory as dystopian content implies. It is our past. It is our planetary default. It is the brutal experience of trying to survive on our own world, without means to navigate and augment it (e.g. warning, gnarly: nature is metal insta).

We can imagine past interactions with the species around us (e.g. surviving amongst wolves), we can look at our present (e.g. Zilker park), and we can imagine horrific futures (Bosch, Alien, Vesper, Annihilation - seriously, dystopic futures seem really well ~mapped out). What seems missing are essentially positive imaginings of intentionally designed interactions with biology, though solarpunk is a step in this direction. That’s a realm I find intriguing.

Personal Context

I grew up building fairy houses, playing with imaginary animal friends, and following the exploits of Martin, the Warrior Mouse of Redwall Abbey. My mother loved botanical forms. My uncle sculpted with bamboo and steel. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (any film) is among of favorite performances. I find the idea of spirit animals amusing, delightful, and useful in communicating personality attributes or aspirations.

When I see the Pacific Ocean, I smile and say hello under my breath, then goodbye again when I depart - and I find this cultivation of a ~mini-muse-like relationship with particular places, terrain, weather types pleasant, and not requiring of (indeed spoiled by) any pretense about their respective in-animacy, indifference, or hazardousness.

I enjoy Art Nouveau - in particular the organic architectural forms resulting from the optimal flow of forces through cast iron. I love the organic forms resulting from generative design. And, in case the introduction was ambiguous, I love the recent alien films; though I would like to see some more optimistic visions (e.g. thank you Villeneuve).

Other favorite works include:

• Cameron Mathieson’s light sculptures
• Neri Oxman’s Silk Pavillion, Vespers (I love the patterns and process, though I wish they venerated first breaths, not last), Beast, Gemini acoustic chez
• Aki Inomata’s Ammonite, Hermit Crab Shelters, Memory of Currency, shibori fans
• Ellen Jewett’s sculptures of fantastical animals

I became explicitly interested in biology as a creative medium back in 2016 during a biosecurity lecture course at Stanford. Shortly after, I began home brewing, spending time in biolabs (BioCurious in Sunnyvale CA), then working on DIY genetic engineering supplies at The ODIN for Jo Zayner.

Fast forward a few years, through the pandemic, diving for abalone shells and sea urchins, keeping chickens, and occasionally aiding in a friend’s delightful exploration of crow-robot interactions, to August 2022, when I began a Design MFA at UT Austin. As an elective, I enrolled in Jiabao Li’s Ecocentric Design to investigate speculative design and human-animal interaction.  Out of that class sprung the project ‘Orbweaver’ which I exhibited as a work in progress in The ODIN's Tyrell Gallery and presented at the Biodesign Challenge hosted at the New York MoMA in summer of 2023, where it received 'runner up'. I've not returned to a biodesign project since graduating, and have intstead focused on finding and building values aligned community focused on human flourishing.