Manufactured Ecosystems

Melanie Barnett
May 11
2 min read

Today I’m going to write about a project that I’ve kept pretty quiet about (but that doesn’t mean it’s not awesome). Since September 2024 I’ve been a part of an incredible cohort of artists, authors, and scientists all working together under an interdisciplinary umbrella called Manufactured Ecosystems.

Manufactured Ecosystems is a huge project based out of the University of Guelph. Our group of twenty-some-or-so artists-authors-scientists have met virtually and have been working together to imagine how ecosystems can adapt to climate change. From the Manufactured Ecosystems website, “Our project envisions a shared future where humanity adapts to a post-climate world using technological proxies that mimic natural ecosystems” https://www.manufacturedecosystems.com/about-us.

above: images I took of my home shelter belt this past winter.

When I entered this project I had just started my year-long residency at Medalta. I was sitting in a space of completion-or-continuation of my MFA thesis “it looked like your BioSuit” https://www.melaniebarnettceramics.com/it-looked-like-your-biosuit. At the time I really wasn’t sure if I would continue working with the BioSuits during my residency, and ultimately I decided to take a break from that project. It was in this time of uncertainty in my studio work that I found myself working with Manufactured Ecosystems.

I started looking to the source material that influenced “it looked like your BioSuit” through the Manufactured Ecosystems project as a way to step away (temporarily) from the figurative work that I had immersed myself in during my MFA.

above: images from "it looked like your BioSuit" MFA Thesis exhibition, NSCAD University, 2024.

I created this piece which, I honestly haven’t titled yet. I’m kind of hoping that by writing all this out I might think of a really great title idea. It’s about shelter belts: the lines of trees that border farmyards and fields. Shelter belts (also called windrows in some places) serve a few purposes. In areas with little tree cover shelter belts protect the topsoil from wind erosion. They also trap snowbanks which melt in the spring and provide water to young crops.

The work created for Manufactured Ecosystems. So far untitled. This was my first time working with ^10 porcelain (true porcelain, not the stuff of lies). It's salt fired. — The work created for *Manufactured Ecosystems*. So far untitled. This was my first time working with ^10 porcelain (true porcelain, not the stuff of lies). It's salt fired.

The silhouette of this piece mimics the silhouette of the shelter belt that surrounds my childhood home. The species within are all found living in that shelter belt, non native and native, alike.

above: detail images from the work. I don't use molds, everything is hand-formed.

Agroecosystems are inherently manufactured – they are the product of human civilization. For millennia humans have been altering ecosystems to serve their agricultural needs. They are probably the first manufactured ecosystem and they will continue to exist so long as our species inhabits this planet. Shelter belts are also manufactured - sometimes they are simply strips of land that were never clearcut (and therefore house native species) and other times they are planted with non-native species for the purpose of providing shelter.