Final Project

Our intention is to create a manufactured landscape to highlight a cyclical aesthetic that brings attention to the everyday degradation of spaces as an environment. In particular, we are exploring the breakdown of the plastic in the Pacific Garbage Patch into its original resin bead form. We will be highlighting the tension between biological and artificial systems through the creation of a kinetic mobile sculpture which represents the scale of the problem, and our relationship with nature and pollution.

For our initial prototype, we will be building a model of a mobile kinetic sculpture as a proof of concept. We’re planning on using ultrasonic sensors as a vehicle for human interaction that will disintegrate the sculpture fabricated from the plastics found in the ocean. With the absence of human presence, the mobile sculpture will snap back into its original form, demonstrating the feedback loop between nature and our anthropogenic reality. To demonstrate the depth of the Pacific Garbage Patch, we plan to use projection that helps place our sculpture into context. The perspective of the projection will be upwards facing so that viewers will have the perception of being submerged underwater. This projection will either a video of our making or an abstract sketch.

Allison Ing, Shirley Leung