Hyperobjects are such huge objects that we cannot point directly at them, yet we are aware of their presence. They affect us even when we are not thinking about them. This awareness imposes an uneasy feeling that affects key ideas about what it means to exist, what the Earth is, and what society is (T. MORTON, Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World, University of Minnesota Press, 2013). This phenomenon is embodied in the existence of waste: despite its small size, we struggle to comprehend that in its entierty, it is a hyperobject.
Waste is an artefact of our society, a symbol of consumption and capitalism. We understand it as small, insignificant objects in the here and now, but it is difficult to imagine it as a single entity: a hyperobject that is omnipresent in our space. After we throw it away, we don't think about it anymore, but these objects are not going anywhere. The vast majority of them are even more long-lasting than the human body. In the presence of waste lies an intriguing encounter between body, object, and environemnt that chaotically intertwine: it is the residue of our actions, evidence of the workings of society, and an agent for confronting our own power(lessness).
The creative process regroups waste into a sculptural material that, despite the limitations of the already defined form of the industrial object, allows the virtues and shortcomings of man-made materials to be unpacked, while blurring the boundary between the aesthetically sophisticated art object and the abomination that challenges our comfort zone. The visual qualities of these objects are unique, as each piece of waste has a unique shape, colour, material, volume and hardness. Their condition and appearance are further shaped by the environment through various factors such as weather phenomena and traffic. In this way, waste becomes a vehicle for the traces of the various hyperobjects in which we reside.
The project starts with performance walks where I pick up litter. The documentary perspective shows a personal point of view and tries to evoke a sense of accumulation, instability, sickness and being stuck in a cycle. The original sound of the recordings weaves through the short frames, creating a sense of an alienated presence that invisibly occupies the space. This effect is further enhanced in the exhibition space, where the sound itself is physically filtered through plastic. The speaker's diaphragm is covered with a thin layer of punctured adhesive tape, allowing the sound to seep through, sometimes gently, sometimes aggressively. The speaker is hidden in a found and adapted beer can and is invisible to the viewer. The video is played on a tablet and is hidden amongst the rubbish in a way that makes it seem like just another piece of waste.
The installation is conceived as an interplay of free-lying waste on the floor of the gallery, which moves with the viewer, and objects made of rubbish, which are suspended in such a way as to evoke a sensation of floating and act as visible parts of a hyperobject that is invisible and inaccessible in its entirety. As we move through the space, we see each object from a different perspective as they form new clusters that last only a second. The floating objects respond to our movement to tune us into the space of confrontation with an entity that is among us every day, but in a spatial relation that is foreign to us.
The project attempts to assimilate the viscosity of hyperobjects through constant growth, change and adaptation. As the length of the video increases, the waste changes roles between moving objects in space and the building blocks of art objects. Through form and placement in space, they adapt to each exhibition space in a particular way, mapping the morphing of waste pollution onto the context of the space.
Waste is an artefact of our society, a symbol of consumption and capitalism. We understand it as small, insignificant objects in the here and now, but it is difficult to imagine it as a single entity: a hyperobject that is omnipresent in our space. After we throw it away, we don't think about it anymore, but these objects are not going anywhere. The vast majority of them are even more long-lasting than the human body. In the presence of waste lies an intriguing encounter between body, object, and environemnt that chaotically intertwine: it is the residue of our actions, evidence of the workings of society, and an agent for confronting our own power(lessness).
The creative process regroups waste into a sculptural material that, despite the limitations of the already defined form of the industrial object, allows the virtues and shortcomings of man-made materials to be unpacked, while blurring the boundary between the aesthetically sophisticated art object and the abomination that challenges our comfort zone. The visual qualities of these objects are unique, as each piece of waste has a unique shape, colour, material, volume and hardness. Their condition and appearance are further shaped by the environment through various factors such as weather phenomena and traffic. In this way, waste becomes a vehicle for the traces of the various hyperobjects in which we reside.
The project starts with performance walks where I pick up litter. The documentary perspective shows a personal point of view and tries to evoke a sense of accumulation, instability, sickness and being stuck in a cycle. The original sound of the recordings weaves through the short frames, creating a sense of an alienated presence that invisibly occupies the space. This effect is further enhanced in the exhibition space, where the sound itself is physically filtered through plastic. The speaker's diaphragm is covered with a thin layer of punctured adhesive tape, allowing the sound to seep through, sometimes gently, sometimes aggressively. The speaker is hidden in a found and adapted beer can and is invisible to the viewer. The video is played on a tablet and is hidden amongst the rubbish in a way that makes it seem like just another piece of waste.
The installation is conceived as an interplay of free-lying waste on the floor of the gallery, which moves with the viewer, and objects made of rubbish, which are suspended in such a way as to evoke a sensation of floating and act as visible parts of a hyperobject that is invisible and inaccessible in its entirety. As we move through the space, we see each object from a different perspective as they form new clusters that last only a second. The floating objects respond to our movement to tune us into the space of confrontation with an entity that is among us every day, but in a spatial relation that is foreign to us.
The project attempts to assimilate the viscosity of hyperobjects through constant growth, change and adaptation. As the length of the video increases, the waste changes roles between moving objects in space and the building blocks of art objects. Through form and placement in space, they adapt to each exhibition space in a particular way, mapping the morphing of waste pollution onto the context of the space.
exhibited at:
Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Tkalka Gallery
EpicCenter GO25! European City of Culture
Koprivnica Gallery
CSU Center for Contemporary Arts
photo: Lučka Centa
photo (Tkalka): Gregor Salobir
Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Tkalka Gallery
EpicCenter GO25! European City of Culture
Koprivnica Gallery
CSU Center for Contemporary Arts
photo: Lučka Centa
photo (Tkalka): Gregor Salobir