The 6th Great Extinction

Art, Graphic Design, Print

The 6th Great Extinction is a series of extinct animal trading cards which began as a social practice piece to raise awareness about the current mass disappearance of species from the Earth. Unlike the previous 5 extinction events in the Earth’s history, the Holocene Extinction Event is entirely the result of the activities of humankind, rather than geological and climatic factors. Currently, scientists estimate that as many three species are wiped from the annals of the living every hour.

In the Spring of 2012, The piece was presented at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History as part of the Your Turn collaboration between UNM and UCSC. Patrons were encouraged to collect as few or as many cards as they wished, each of which depict an extinct or endangered species, along with an associated blurb detailing the known causes of death, while collaborators discussed and engaged patrons on the phenomenon.

Later that year, packs of cards were transplanted to New York City for discovery in a series of “micro-installations”. Cards were placed at a variety of NYC locations both famous and mundane, including Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and Rockefeller Center, in addition to restaurants, bathrooms and subway tunnels. It is unknown what any individual finding the cards may have though, if anything. The intention was to leave a kind of tombstone or relic of a bygone lifeform, amidst the great testament of human urban development that is New York City.