Specimens

Specimens of the Globe is a project that reproduces a 30 cm diameter plastic globe. The project aimed to actively adopt anthropological/sociological issues and digital technologies by substituting objective statistical data.

Using references like Wikipedia and the CIA’s World Factbook, Shin came up with a list of cities related to current global issues — including war, violence, poverty, terrorism, famine, human rights and the environment — and, by connecting the areas and measuring the distances between them, cast globes in various geometrical shapes.

These globes look like crystal specimens; for a long time, crystal was believed to attract earth energy, and is used by modern science to reduce static and errors. Problematic pieces displayed on shelves, just like specimens in a museum, realize and crystallize the many issues that we do not insist on knowing about or which are otherwise overlooked, demanding that we keep still and look at them.