Postnatural Disaster explores the relationship between human activity and natural ecosystems, and our own complicity in the occurrence of natural disasters. Using the Alberta oil sands development as an example of a human-induced natural disaster, the installation proposes an architectural solution to support disaster response efforts, rather than a structure to shelter us from the consequences of our own actions.

A natural disaster is an extreme natural event that endangers human life and property. Our choices about where and how to settle, cultivate, industrialize and travel affect the risk of – and our vulnerability to –natural disasters.

The cumulative effects of human activity have reached the magnitude of a geological force. Though alarmingly quick on a geological time scale, anthropogenic effects occur over seemingly long periods by social and political measures. This fact, combined with a limited understanding of our place within the natural environment, makes it difficult to recognize, quantify, and respond to ecological impacts that are ultimately detrimental to human populations.

The installation brings you inside the operations centre of an ecological monitoring network for oil sands development along the Athabasca River. The centre acts as the central nervous system: gathering, coordinating, and disseminating the information required to have informed regional, national, and global discussions about the implications of this extreme resource development project