Marina Zurkow: Parting Worlds

Mesocosm (Wink, TX) is an animation that depicts the landscape surrounding Wink Sink 2, a large sinkhole that has been expanding steadily since it formed in 2002 on private oil company property in the small Texas town of Wink. The work is part of Marina Zurkow’s series Mesocosm, a term drawn from the field of environmental science referring to simulated ecosystems used for ecological and sociological research. Zurkow drew each frame of the animated elements by hand, but the choreography of the work is dynamic and driven in real time by software that determines order, density, and interrelationships. The animation features a diversity of wildlife as oil refineries burn off gases in the background, highlighting the range of interdependent species and elements that are changed and affected by human intervention.