Contaminated Current
Helmut GalleryMay, 2021
Contaminated Current is an exhibition made by artists Andrea Garcia Vasquez and Fabian Lehmann. We were inspired by a newly discovered kind of rock that had embedded or melted parts of plastic in them, Plastiglomerate. These new geological formations are a clear sign of the human footprint on the land. The concept behind our prints and sculptures is to materially and visually depict such circumstances and inspire reevaluation in our human activity, and redirect our awareness beyond the human.
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A series of cement sculptures depict whole, fragmented, and manipulated Nike shoes made out of cement and plastic. We found the Nike shoes for this project on the street or Free Your Stuff Leipzig. A typical product used on a daily basis, shoes are a huge contributor to pollution and climate change.It is made of unsustainable materials and micro-plastics, leaving them impossible to recycle. Nike is a symbol of commodity, consumerism, and the fast moving trends that sadly too often end up polluting in our parks, ocean, and streets.
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These sculptures symbolise the weight of the environmental impact and, also, quite literally, confronts our CO2 footprint.
The two prints hanging in our exhibition are photo transfer prints on cotton. The transfer print is of a digital texture we designed which one would be able to use for 3D modeling programs. The square is compact with data and information portraying the material of the environment today. Plastic bits, stones, organic material, and fragments of shoes can be found in these large-scale prints. Re-printing this texture with the photo transfer technique references nature experiences through the digital versus physical duality.
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A series of cement sculptures depict whole, fragmented, and manipulated Nike shoes made out of cement and plastic. We found the Nike shoes for this project on the street or Free Your Stuff Leipzig. A typical product used on a daily basis, shoes are a huge contributor to pollution and climate change.It is made of unsustainable materials and micro-plastics, leaving them impossible to recycle. Nike is a symbol of commodity, consumerism, and the fast moving trends that sadly too often end up polluting in our parks, ocean, and streets.
These sculptures symbolise the weight of the environmental impact and, also, quite literally, confronts our CO2 footprint.
The two prints hanging in our exhibition are photo transfer prints on cotton. The transfer print is of a digital texture we designed which one would be able to use for 3D modeling programs. The square is compact with data and information portraying the material of the environment today. Plastic bits, stones, organic material, and fragments of shoes can be found in these large-scale prints. Re-printing this texture with the photo transfer technique references nature experiences through the digital versus physical duality.
Documentation Photos by Fabian Lehmann & Felix Pallocheck