The World’s Green is Rotting Lime is an ecopoetic audiovisual installation by Erik Peters that speculates on future ecologies emerging from plastic pollution. The work follows the discovery of a new parasitic flower morphospecies that has evolved to adapt to the infiltrating amounts of microplastics found in the earth’s layers. The story takes place in the Cacupangan cave system in Pangasinan, the Philippines, a subterranean kilometers-long labyrinth of tunnels and underground rivers. Taking its color from the acidic green plastics of Mountain Dew soda bottles which are commonly upcycled and repurposed across rural provinces, the emergence of the flower reveals a history and future far beyond its isolated habitat.

The work resulted from the artist’ ongoing field research on coastal climate adaptation strategies between the Philippines and the Netherlands, uncovering how crisis adaptation is shaped by local environmental, economic and cultural conditions. Although the Philippines ranks highest as oceanic plastic polluter, a large percentage of this waste actually originates from Western countries such as the Netherlands. The works title takes reference to a line in ‘Ruins of a Great House’ by Saint Lucian poet Derek Walcott. Set on an old plantation built during the colonial era in the Caribbean, the poem compares the decay of the building to its colonial past. The scent design of the installation is created using a combination of various ingredients, such as Mountain Dew liquid, dried Rafflesia Arnoldii (corpse flower), dying orchid petals and lime juice.

Ceramic 3D prints produced by ceramist Funda Baysal
Audiovisuals in collaboration with Ymer Marinus
Translation and narration by Jao San Pedro