TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

Aquadisia, Stephanie Rothenberg

What if humans could cure climate change by simply drinking a special potion? A potion that would create an equal playing field between all entities, human and other-than-human? And now imagine that this special potion is made by a new species of bioengineered oysters. These new and improved cyborg oysters secrete a fluid that when ingested turn that ecstatic feeling of aphrodisia in humans into a new state of sentience – an “aquadisia”! Our insatiable consumptive desires are transformed into sensorial and energetic pleasures beyond the mere sexual, leading to new forms of sentient interconnections with the cycle of life. 

Aquadisia is a speculative design project that plays on the myth of the oyster as an aphrodisiac to reimagine a more mutually symbiotic relationship between humans and other-than-humans. The project narrative engages a pseudo-scientific overview of the process for creating this magical fluid. Anyone can access it by simply turning on their faucet and taking a drink. It begins with extraction and gene manipulation of the organisms in the lab, studies on its effect on the human body, and then moves outward to the ocean where the futuristic aquaculture vessels are being harvested around the world. These structures allow the fluid to be pumped into public water systems. 

The project explores several critical issues significant to our ecological crisis within the intersection of biotechnology and marine science: the use of nonhuman life for human survival through genetic engineering, the illusion of conservation within the “blue economy” enabled through ecosystem services, and the neoliberal desire to transcend climate change through individuated responses. Moving between reality and fantasy, Aquadisia not only questions human action but also the ethical and economic dimensions of our solutions. The project aims to generate discussion on what are the real-world possibilities and action steps for moving forward in this vulnerable real-world situation we are all in.