Ecological Strangers

Ecological Strangers is an ‘anti-productivity’ chrome extension aimed at helping people break free from the landscape of productivity. Every hour, the extension blocks out the user's browser completely to engage them with various pop-ads and soundscapes of ecological strangers — the nameless natural species that are local to the area in which the user lives. The erotic visual language is designed not only to grab the attention of users but also to suggest our perilously profound ignorance of nature. Two seemingly unrelated subjects, sex workers and natural species, share an unexpected commonality; they are strangers whom we tend to ignore, and yet they are always available to interact with us nearby and heavily depend on our attention for their survival. Ecological Strangers ultimately invites people to speculate on an alternative scenario: What will happen if we all collectively resist a profit-driven technology landscape and start planting our attention in nature? Would downtime be still viewed as a missed opportunity?