Most Plastics Can’t Be ‘Properly’ Recycled

We often see items we purchase with labels saying they can be recycled, but not all can be, and even so plastic can never be fully returned to its original state, such as wood, glass and metals can. It can only be down-cycled to a certain point when it can’t be reduced anymore and so an amount of the ‘recycled’ substance still ends up in the landfill. I found an infograph created by CostumMade on a blogsite titled Tree Hugger which are both filled with great information on just how bad our reliance on plastics has become, and also simple ways that we can cut down on the use and consumption of plastics without any hassle!

Infograph retrieved from CustomMade

 

References:

Inforgraph retrieved from

CustumMade. “Move Away from Plastic Dependency #plastic #plasticpollution.” Made by CustomMade (blog). November 24, 2014. Accessed May 29, 2016. http://www.custommade.com/blog/put-down-the-plastic/.

Information from

Martinko, Katherine, and Tree Hugger. “Excellent Infographic Shows Why We Must Say No to Plastic : TreeHugger.” TreeHugger (blog). December 17, 2014. Accessed May 29, 2016. http://www.treehugger.com/green-home/excellent-infographic-shows-why-we-must-say-no-plastic.html.

CustumMade. “Move Away from Plastic Dependency #plastic #plasticpollution.” Made by CustomMade (blog). November 24, 2014. Accessed May 29, 2016. http://www.custommade.com/blog/put-down-the-plastic/.

Artist Soo Sunny Park

An artist influencing me on this project is American sculptor Soo Sunny Park.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Soo Sunny Park moved to the U.S. at the age of eleven.
Park received her B.F.A. in painting and sculpture from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio and a M.F.A. in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
After a residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME (2000), she worked in St. Louis, Missouri as an installation artist and as a Lecturer at the Washington University, School of Art.  In 2001, Park was selected as the River Front Times “Best of 2001, Sculptor of St. Louis”.
She is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell M.F.A. Grant, The 19th Annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition Grand Prize, The Helen Foster Barnett Prize from The National Academy Museum, New York, NY (2008), and The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Fellowship (2010).
Soo Sunny Park lives and works in Hanover, New Hampshire where she is Associate Professor of Studio Art at Dartmouth College.

I found her installation ‘Unwoven Light’ (image below) inspiring and very visually dramatic.

‘Unwoven Light’ Soo Sunny Park, Rice Gallery 2013
brazed chain link fence, plexiglass, natural and artificial light
room: 15’6” h x 44’ w x 40’d

My first reaction to this piece was just “wow”. Its otherworldly and visually and aesthetically very impressive. This work brings the otherworldly to a physical reality.

The scale of the work transforms the space it occupies, immersing the viewer with its presence, evoking feelings of serenity and calmness, reminiscent of a river, with the light reflecting and refracting off the surface. The repetition of diamond shapes forms a pattern, creating movement and rhythm, I think this adds to the unity and balance of the overall piece. The structure is created using thirty-seven individual units, the composition of which become a subjective reality, dependent on the space around it. It is an organic abstract form.

The installation’s separate units are made of chain-link fence, within the fence Park has carefully tied in pieces of iridescent Plexiglas which are covered with a dichroic film, these units are then hung from the ceiling and walls of the gallery space. Natural and artificial light sources are captured and revealed, converting the architecture into something sublime.

These elements emphasize the feeling of the space being transformed into another realm or reality.

The artists intended purpose was to capture and “unweave” light, revealing it in reflections and refractions, the light becomes an integral part of the installation. Instead of separating us and the space we occupy, as a fence usually would, it serves to separate and expose the light around us. Park states, “My work often deals with this idea of subliminal space or interstitial space.”
This statement links in with the idea that “Unwoven Light” transforms the surrounding area, transporting the viewer to another, subliminal, space.
Of this work in particular, Park says:

. . . This piece explores lights potential as a structural element in sculpture. The woven form of a chain link fence, fitted with plexi-glass diamonds, unweaves the light. Now we can see it – the light – in purple shadows and yellow-green reflections that both mirror the shape of the fence and restructure the space they inhabit.
Fences and panes of glass are porous boundaries. The divide yours from mine, inside from outside, but both let the light pass through.
Here these boundaries don’t divide us, or the space we occupy; fences and glass divide the light.
We pass among them as the force the light to show itself: to inhabit and structure our space. . .

I think the work successfully communicates the feelings of serenity and transports the viewer to another space, immersing you in this concept of the ‘sublime’, through Park’s use of light. Though one could also see this as a type of escapism.

The work has value in terms of its effect on the viewer’s state of mind, it has aesthetic value and as a commissioned work it has sign value.
My engagement with the work could be enhanced by physically experiencing the installation for myself.

Another of Park’s works I found intriguing is ‘Pseudanthium Synthesis’, which was created in collaboration with Lauren Ruth. This performance installation was set in the PLAYCUBE Mobile Exhibition Space in Hanover.

“The interior space is filled with fresh-cut plants in water that are slowly wilting in heat. The performers dressed in Tyvek suits steadily paint individual leaves with fluorescent paint one by one. As the night progresses, leaves come alive rather than fade visually as though they are accumulated dots in a pointillist painting, accruing to glow in ultraviolet black light.” – Soo Sunny Park

 

Pseudanthium Synthesis, 2009
Flourescent paint, live plants, black lights, performers wearing tyvek suits and headlamps
10’H x 16’W x 8’D
3 hour performance

 

This work intrigued me because I can’t (still) figure out what is the message they are trying to convey. It seems it could be quite a strong statement environmentally. Having the leaves “come to life” visually, even as they are dying.
I felt this work  connected to our concept of using something organic and turning it into something synthetic.
Doing this performance as night and in such a small space added a sense of mystery and voyeurism.

 

Bibliography

Park, Soo S. “Unwoven Light.” Soo Sunny Park. Last modified 2013. http://soosunnypark.format.com/unwoven-light

Rice Gallery, and Lexi L. Sullivan. “Soo Sunny Park | Unwoven Light — Rice Gallery.” Rice Gallery. Last modified 2013. http://www.ricegallery.org/soo-sunny-park

Truong, Janine. “Art & Science Journal — Unwoven Light Soo Sunny Park’s Unwoven Light, A…” Art & Science Journal — A Publication About Artworks with Themes of Science, Nature and Technology. Accessed May 30, 2016. http://www.artandsciencejournal.com/post/56174024330/unwoven-light-soo-sunny-parks-unwoven-light-a

Park, Soo Sunny. “Unwoven Light”, Soo Sunny Park. 2013. Rice Gallery. http://soosunnypark.format.com/unwoven-light#

Park, Soo Sunny. “Bio.” Soo Sunny Park. Accessed May 30, 2016. http://soosunnypark.com/

Ruth, Lauren. “Pseudanthium Synthesis – Lauren Ruth.” Lauren Ruth – Lauren Ruth. Last modified 2009. http://www.lauren-ruth.com/sculpture-performance/pseudanthium-synthesis/

Park, Soo Sunny. “Pseudanthium Synthesis.” Soo Sunny Park. Last modified 2009. http://soosunnypark.format.com/14913-pseudanthium-synthesis

Thinking of the Oceans

David Hakkens is a 27 year old Designer who has created a machine to revolutionize how we recycle plastic, he has titled the project ‘Precious Plastic’. Hakkens builds the machines himself, and includes tutorials on how to construct your own on his website preciousplastic.com

The Precious Plastic project takes plastics, shreads them, melts them down and forms them into stunning new items, such as toys, household items and kitchenware, to name a few.

Here is the link to the video to find out more about this topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMVCbyl9iFA

 

References;

Images retrieved from,

Hakken, David. “Machines – Precious Plastics.com.” http://preciousplastic.com. 2016. Accessed May 27, 2016. http://preciousplastic.com/en/creations/.

Hakken, David. “Precious Plasti at Ontdekfabriek.” davehakkens.nl. 2016. Accessed May 27, 2016. https://davehakkens.nl/news/precious-plastic-at-ontdekfabriek/.

Hakkens, David, and Donyea Coles. “Precious Plastic – learn how to turn your garage into a recycling workshop.” http://www.redferret.net. 2016. Accessed May 27, 2016. http://www.redferret.net/?p=52379.

Inspirations From Similar Installations

While researching for other designs and installations that are similar to the wave we are in the process of creating, I came across this amazing work that was created by an artist at the UNCED (as part as the UN Conference on Sustainable Development) to bring attention to the plastic pollution within the oceans. This huge construction is located at the Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The same bottles used for the work were retrieved from the Botafogo beach itself. The giant fish cast a blue glow as they are each lit up from inside, there are also colour changing spotlights shining light onto the installation and also on the sand which creates beautiful ripples that strongly resemble ocean tides.

These images show the large scale of the installation, showing it against people. Image one shows it in day light, and it still looks so powerful! The second image depicts a glimpse as to how the plastic bottles are joined together. The bottom image shows two of the three giant fish lit up at dusk against the beautiful Botafogo beach landscape.

This installation is not only related to our concept of plastic pollution in the seas, but also the scale and impact of the work against the darkness is something we plan to achieve with our Wave. It is also an example of a successful armature, we can bring these ideas and inspirations to our own work.

 

References;

Image 1, 2, and 3 retrieved from,

My Modern Met. “Glowing Giant Fish Made Of Discarded Plastic Bottles.” http://www.mymodernmet.com. 2012. Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Accessed May 27, 2016. http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/giant-fish-sculpture-un-conference-on-sustainable-development.

Information from;

Jobson, Christopher. “Giant Fish Sculptures Made from Discarded Plastic Bottles in Rio.” Colossal. Last modified June 21, 2012. Accessed 27 may 2016 http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/06/giant-fish-sculptures-made-from-discarded-plastic-bottles-in-rio/.

My Modern Met. “Glowing Giant Fish Made Of Discarded Plastic Bottles.” http://www.mymodernmet.com. 2012. Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Accessed May 27, 2016. http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/giant-fish-sculpture-un-conference-on-sustainable-development.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., and United Nations Conference On Sustainable Development. “Artist At UNCED Creates Fish Sculptures Out Of Plastic Bottles, Draws Attention To Plastic Debris In Ocean (PHOTOS).” The Huffington Post. Last modified June 21, 2012. Accessed 27 May 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/fish-made-of-bottles_n_1617018.html.

Twisted Sifter. “Giant Fish Sculptures Made from Discarded Plastic Bottles «TwistedSifter.” TwistedSifter. Last modified June 23, 2012. Accessed 27 May 2016. http://twistedsifter.com/2012/06/giant-fish-sculptures-made-from-discarded-plastic-bottles-brazil/.

Upcycle That, and Twisted Sifter. “Plastic Bottle Fish Sculptures | Upcycle That.” Upcycling Ideas and Inspiration | Upcycle That. Last modified 2012. Accessed 27 May 2016. http://www.upcyclethat.com/plastic-bottle-fish-sculptures/.

 

Waves of Inspiration

With the idea of creating a giant wave out of recycled plastic bottles for our Light Nelson project, one of our tutors suggested looking up this work by Korean artist Jean Shin.

Shin created this sculpture “Sound Wave” (2007) created by melting vinyl records. The construction and the idea of using recycled materials is what is relevant to our project, rather than Shin’s concept. Her idea of creating a large scale wave is very similar to how we plan to create our own installation out of recycled plastic.

Images retrieved from, Shin, Jean. “Jean Shin Sound Wave, 2007, Melted 78 rpm records on wooden armature.” http://www.jeanshin.com. 2007. Installation at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, 2007 . Accessed May 26, 2016. http://www.jeanshin.com/soundwave.htm#.

Revolutionary Design

While scrolling through facebook (as you do!) I found these two excellent videos that a friend had shared and got me thinking about this project.

The videos are information about a South Florida company who saw what the plastic six pack can holders were doing to the environment, especially ocean life and so decided to design edible, biodegradable holders, (for people and the animals!).

 

Most people think that cutting the plastic up into small pieces will ensure the creatures won’t get tangled up within them, but actually it is worse, as they can then ingest the small particles.

The small company are hoping that bigger corporations will catch on to this revolutionary idea and bring them into circulation.

Below are the links to the videos on this information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM78yB26Kw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YG9gUJMGyw

Image retrieved from, Raiche, Ryan, and Salt Water Brewery. “South Florida brewery designs edible six-pack holder to save environment.” http://www.abcactionnews.com. 2016. Accessed May 26, 2016. http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/hillsborough-regional-news/south-florida-brewery-designs-edible-six-pack-holder-to-save-environment.

Experimentation with Armatures

We decided that it would be a good idea to start experimenting with the form of the wave and the underlying structure. Below are the examples of some maquettes using thin rods. Our first attempt we used a hot glue gun to bind each individual piece, while it held loosely together, it was not ideal and would not be a strong structure that we could work with.

(Image 2) After testing the hot glue gun and it not being satisfactory, we decided to try spot welding points of the structure together. We found this to be a lot firmer, and created a very strong armature.

 

A close up of the results of the two different temperature settings on the spot welder.

(Image 3 and 4) The two settings tested on the joined piece above. Because of how they were held with being spot welded setting the heat to 1 and 5 worked best, whereas 1 and 6 nearly burnt through the metal. However when welding the corners of the wave structure we had the spot welder set to 1 and 6, as 1 and 5 wasn’t hot enough to go through and join the two pieces of rod at an angle.

Images are our own.

Armatures

We have been looking at different ways to form our wave. A tutor suggested we look at armatures. Armatures are frameworks around which a sculpture is formed. It provides the strength and structure to a sculpture. We could build a wooden or metal armature to give our wave something to build our bottles up around. We have also considered using bamboo. When soaked a bit with water they can be shaped or bent into a curved shape. There is also welding rods we could use. See images below.

I found this blog post about an Elephant sculpture made up of parts of old trains, House for an Art Lover (HAL) in 2014 worked in collaboration with the Scottish artist Kenny Hunter. HAL commissioned the creation of a ‘life-size’ elephant. Pictures of their armature can be seen below.

(Images retrieved from “August | 2014 | Elephant for Glasgow.” Elephant for Glasgow | Kenny Hunter Creates Life Size Elephant in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. Accessed , 2016. https://elephantforglasgow.wordpress.com/2014/08/.)

This is a really interesting project and definitely worth a look at their blog.

References:

“August | 2014 | Elephant for Glasgow.” Elephant for Glasgow | Kenny Hunter Creates Life Size Elephant in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. Accessed , 2016. https://elephantforglasgow.wordpress.com/2014/08/.

 

 

Group Trip

As a group we decided it was time to start looking around to find where possible material sources would be. We found a place in Stoke that had some great metals that could possibly be used on the underlying structure for the installation. We had a look around and they also showed us to some reels of metal for us to start experimenting with.

They had massive amounts of metals that they recycle, which they buy off locals wanting to get rid of their scrap metals, and in turn look after the environment. They also sell the metals before melting it down to those looking for particular items such as we were!

Images are our own.

The Cola Bow by Penda

Whilst looking for artworks that might fit with our idea, I came across this large wave. This public installation was designed by Penda in 2013, an international group of creatives based in Beijing and Vienna. They combine the perspectives of both East and West into their works, and focus on green works with particular attention to nature. The Cola Bow, incorporated 17,000 recycled bottles in the shape of the coca cola swirl logo. It is intended to draw attention to the reuse and recycling of plastic bottles.

It is important that we get the structure and design right for our installation. I searched  for some information on armatures, and found this interesting artist Marta Thoma Hall. Marta is President of Velodyne Acoustics Inc., where she oversees the design and development of new products. As an artist, she uses bottles to convey an environmental message. The below image is titled Journey of a bottle and is at the Walnut Creek Library in California.

She says,

” I approach industrial design as sculpture and think about composition, shape, and materials. The process is the same whether you are designing a 30-foot sculpture or a pair of headphones.”

 

References:

“Artist Marta Thoma Hall Makes Sculpture Transforming Bottles While Day Job Includes Designer Audiophile Headphones.” California Newswire. Accessed May 23, 2016. http://californianewswire.com/artist-marta-thoma-hall-makes-sculpture-transforming-bottles-while-day-job-includes-designer-audiophile-headphones/.

“Cosmos | ArtSWFL.com.” SWFL Art in the News | ArtSWFL.com. Accessed May 23, 2016. http://www.artswfl.com/public-art-2/fgcu-public-art-2/cosmos/cosmos.

“This Beautiful, Cleverly Created Wave of Plastic Coke Bottles Reminds Us to Recycle | Design | ClubFlyers Magazine Articles on Design.” ClubFlyers Magazine. Accessed May 23, 2016. http://clubflyersmag.com/this-beautiful-cleverly-created-wave-of-plastic-coke-bottles-reminds-us-to-recycle-2468.

Thoma Hall, Marta. “Journey of a Bottle.” Captive Wild Woman. n.d. Walnut Creek Library, California. http://captivewildwoman.blogspot.co.nz/2011/06/marta-thoma-journey-of-bottle-at-walnut.html.

“Upcycled Coca Cola Plastic Bottle Pavilion • Creative Spotting.” Creative Spotting. Accessed May 23, 2016. http://www.creativespotting.com/2015/03/upcycled-coca-cola-plastic-bottle-pavilion/#arvlbdata.