Projects

As Artists in Residence at the University College London Environment Institute we were researching a variety of phenomena relating to oceanic and coastal plastic pollution. With a series of art works we reflect upon the “awayness” of plastic garbage in the collective memory – once it is thrown away – and its persistence (as a rarely degrading material) in the oceans and on the beaches.

In March 2011 we travelled to 23 remote and beautiful beaches on the Shetland Islands to collect specific stones and plastic. Each beach had a different “affinity” to plastic garbage. The first version of the installation “a diagram of floating stones” makes a particular reference to the aquariums of Victorian oceanographic scientists as old media of observation, research and (dis)play. Within glass tanks the found stones from each beach are kept in Shetland lace knitted “bags”, like fishing nets and hover in the water because of the connected plastic’s buoyancy.

The installation was shown during the Edinburgh Art Festival 2012 at Inspace with 3,000 visitors. The installation was supported through a Design Informatics Residency at University of Edinburgh.

The next – and larger scale – version of “a diagram of floating stones” will be placed in Argyll and installed directly in the sea. The found plastic will be shaped in a construction which resembles prehistoric cup or ringmarks, typical for the area. The stones/rocks found in the area will be suspended from these plastic rings and hover in the sea. The plastic material will be collected during beach clean events in Argyll.