The Artist Memorializing Extinct Species

Can extinct species live on through digital reanimation? The short answer: of course not—but for the longer answer, see this text by artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen on what might be preserved of creatures no longer present on the planet.

He was inspired to begin his project after coming across a YouTube video that featured the call of a now-extinct Hawaiian bird, the Kaua’i’o’o, which died out around 1987. He says:

“To me, the story of the Kaua'i'o'o is one of a new form of digital preservation. Through archives and digital technologies, the bird has been reanimated from extinction as a newly created species—one defined by its original vocal evocation, remixed by humans and partially composed of new bits of digital data.”

He spoke with the ornithologist who was researching Hawaiian birds around the time the Kaua’i’o’o went extinct in order to gather his memories of the birdsong and the ecology it was part of.

He then recorded this conversation and has used it and other material to make a series of videos and installations reflecting on the loss of species, and asking what part digital technology can or should play in reconstruction. Is it more important to focus on accuracy or affect?

The resulting works are part preservation, part memorial for what has been lost.