Imagine a not-so-distant future: it’s 2110, and our bodies host an extra organ — a small semi-transparent dome implanted in the abdomen, pulsing like something alive. Inside, gill-like fungal filaments quietly work to break down microplastics our organism can no longer process. It sounds speculative, of course. But is it really that far from our present reality?
This tension fuels “The 79th Organ,” a master’s project by Dutch designer Odette Dierkx, who envisions a biomimetic — and deeply provocative — response to a planet saturated with plastic. The project is part of a larger speculative narrative in which five “travellers from the future” return to our present, bringing objects from 2110 to reveal the consequences of our current choices. Among them is the 79th organ of the human body.
The Concept Behind The 79th Organ
According to Dierkx’s vision, plastic is no longer just an external problem: it permeates soil, oceans, ecosystems, and ultimately the human body. In her narrative scenario, people in 2110 live in a world where microplastics circulate through the blood and tissues, affecting health, fertility, and the development of future generations.
From here comes the idea of a new organ: a biotechnological prosthesis built from the Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom, known for its ability to degrade complex polymers. In this imagined mechanism, the device filters the blood, traps microplastics, and “digests” them through enzymatic processes. It is not applied science — it is speculative design, and it doesn’t claim to offer an immediate technical solution. Instead, it raises a powerful question: how far will we need to go in order to survive our own pollution?
Variations Reflecting Social Stratification
Within the project’s narrative, The 79th Organ exists in three variations, each carrying cultural weight:
- A factory model, transparent, designed to reveal the mechanism inside.
- A worn, used-looking version, imagined for waste pickers and those living closest to plastic pollution.
- A small pink version, intended for a young girl — a symbol of future generations already “exposed.”
These variations aren’t about aesthetics. They reveal social stratification: pollution does not affect everyone equally, nor do the imagined solutions. Although Dierkx’s project sits within the culture of speculative design, its starting point is very real. Today, microplastics have been detected in natural ecosystems, food chains, drinking water, air, and urban environments — a widespread contamination that cuts across every layer of contemporary life.
Microplastics: A Growing Concern
Scientists are still investigating the long-term effects of constant exposure, and while many questions remain open, one fact is clear: microplastics are everywhere. This pervasiveness, now central to global environmental debates, is what Dierkx uses as the foundation for her warning. Plastic is no longer just a material — it’s a phenomenon shaping our time.
“When did we stop seeing plastic as something ‘outside’ of us? And what does it mean for design to confront a material that has crossed the boundary between environment and biology?”
What makes The 79th Organ compelling is not the device itself, but what it implies: a future in which humans don’t reduce their impact on the planet, but instead modify themselves to withstand its consequences. It’s a critique of how innovation is often framed — as a way to alleviate symptoms rather than address root causes.
A Tool for Awareness
In this sense, Dierkx’s work is less an object and more a tool for awareness. It forces us to ask whether technology will truly help solve the environmental crisis, or simply become another band-aid preventing systemic change. Is this really the future we want? A future where resilience is measured in additional organs?
The project aligns with the tradition of critical and speculative design: it doesn’t aim to forecast the future, but to open up conversations. It uses the human body as a stage for a collective problem, turning biological vulnerability into a narrative device. Its value lies here — not in its technological hypothesis, but in its ability to make us look directly, and without filters, at what we too often ignore.
Looking Forward: A Call to Action
The 79th Organ doesn’t suggest that we should implant a fungus-based organ in real life. It suggests that, if we fail to act today, we could reach a point where such an idea no longer feels absurd. And so the final question becomes unavoidable — and uncomfortable: do we want to adapt our bodies to plastic, or do we finally want to stop producing so much of it?
As the conversation about microplastics and environmental sustainability continues to evolve, projects like Dierkx’s serve as crucial reminders of the potential futures we face. They challenge us to rethink our relationship with technology, innovation, and the environment, urging us to consider the long-term implications of our actions today.
