PLANET FOR SALE is a speculative book beautifully illustrated by Sean Caulfield alongside poems and text focusing on “the tragedy of the commons,” courtesy of Steven Hoffman and Caitlin Fisher. The book imagines a literal planet for sale, in which our shared, or ‘common’, resources are depleted and destroyed by people acting in their own self-interest—though the illustrations engage with speculative fiction, Planet for Sale makes clear that the future it envisions is in fact not so far from our current reality. The book’s narrator specifically points to a ‘choice’ that was given to and made by people living at a certain time, whose actions and inactions created monstrous outgrowths and scenes of environmental destruction that, while fictional, are perhaps not dissimilar to what many people are experiencing today as the climate crisis worsens.
Planet for Sale: Dr. Seuss meets Elinor Ostrom.
At SQUARE, the Planet for Sale book has been deconstructed and enlarged into a photo and text-based installation. Particular emphasis is given to the last section of the book, which illustrates the Nobel Prize-winning work of economist Elinor Ostrom, who devised eight points aimed at addressing how individuals may avoid the ‘tragedy of the commons’ by acting in the common good of all people when managing resources. The original print illustrations by Caulfield were on display alongside select text by Hoffman. Virtual and Augmented Reality by Caitlin Fisher created accompanying AR/VR experiences. Planet for Sale was presented as part of the Unpacking Energy Transition (FluxKit Beta Tests) exhibition at SQUARE, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland from 7-12 November 2022.
