Plastic Soup- Invisible Matters

‘Plastic Soup- Invisible Matters’ is a research-based project organized by Zone Sound Creative in partnership with multidisciplinary laboratory dériveLAB and culture space BEMA from Mexico. This international collaboration brought together artists from Taiwan and Latin America with backgrounds exploring the connections between art and technology. These artists were invited to respond to the concept of “Environmental Sensory” through their art practices, considering the entanglement of human and nonhuman elements in the environment.

Weather is an integral part of the atmospheric envelope that sustains our lives by providing the necessary conditions for survival. However, the magnitude of “climate change” is so overwhelming that it evokes feelings of anxiety and helplessness, which Donna Haraway describes as “indecisive agitation.” In light of this obstinate fact, we propose examining meteorology as an instrument for participatory art that can produce a dialogue through material artifacts and concepts.

We view weather as an artist’s medium that connects us to the world and each other through the air, water, and sunlight that convey sensations to our human and machine receptors. Participating artists will translate meteorological data and embodied sensory experiences into transmedia narratives to reposition and understand the relationship between humans, nonhumans, and the environment in which we currently live.

After a year of exchange and remote collaboration, the artists utilized modular components to connect open-source environmental sensor networks and developed installation prototypes using digital fabrication technology. Public events were held in Taiwan and Latin America to showcase the project, inviting the audience to engage with the more-than-human aesthetic of the installations. In Mexico, dériveLAB launched the ⊛ PIP Ciudad Futuro project, building a futuristic environmental monitoring structure in the city. In Taiwan, the devices were designed to adapt to local conditions, offering a series of devices that could be moved around the city.

The project invites audience participation as an operator to reflect disturbances in the surrounding environment, allowing them to sense the visible and invisible layers of daily life and blur the boundary between the audience and artists. The general theme of the project is civic science and art. It includes a series of lectures and online features to promote interdisciplinary and cultural discussions between Taiwanese and Latin American artists. The project findings were presented at online artist talks and workshops in November 2021. The exhibition was on view from December 4th to January 9th, 2022, at Frontier Gallery No. 71, Treasure Hill Artists Village (Taiwan). ‘Plastic Soup’ aims to widen the dialogue and understanding between different fields and promote a deeper understanding of the environment and its impacts on our lives. Partners

Zone Sound Creative (TW), BEMA (MX) & deriveLab (MX)

Artists

Nancy Valladares (HN),  Luiza Bastos Lages (BR), Lee Hsu Yuping (TW), Tzu-Tung (TW), Chi Po-Hao (TW), Chucho Ocampo (MX)