PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Due to a global loss of seashells, land hermit crabs – which live in discarded shells for protection – are facing a severe housing shortage. In attempting to meet the new needs of this natural life form, I have started fabricating alternative forms of housing, out of plastic, for land hermit crabs. Utilizing rapid prototyping technology, I have designed these shelters in auto CAD then created each, in one piece with a laser. Based upon the designs of Guiseppe Terragni, a fascist architect working in the late 1920’s, these fabricated structures are better than what nature can provide. They have a large internal space to weight ratio—which the animal seeks, and because they are non-biodegradable they will out live the life span of he species itself, thereby assuring many generations of hermit crabs ample passed down housing.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Elizabeth Demaray is an artist whose work explores the connection between the named world and the real. She is co-founder and co-curator of the Conceptual Art Store.com and teaches at Rutgers University at Camden where she is head of sculpture.
PRESS:
Cabinet Magazine, Spring 2004
"these fabricated structures are better than what nature can provide."
I shudder when I hear comments like this. I have never seen a design that hasn't had some problems - design, like designers, is not perfect. There's almost nothing that designers could improve on that evolution hasn't already done.
For starters, the hermit crabs I have seen have round, tubular bodies. I imagine that they'd have trouble with the shape of the structure - considering that their abdomens are quite soft, then might be bruised by the irregular pressure.
What about the energy put into the structures? And if they break, does they have sharp edges? Does the material flake off like shells, or does is it slightly elastic? Does this cause it to pinch the crab?
I know it's an art project, but if it were actually to be put into practice, these issues and others would have to be resolved. A better solution from an ecological perspective would be to figure out the reason that the shells are disappearing in the first place, and deal with the problem at it's root cause.