Plastic Fountain

2017 – concept
Materials: synthetic fabric, plastic plants, metal frame, water nozzle
Dimensions: diam.200cm x h.200 cm
 
The work has been created within the project “Universal Sea: pure or plastic?” and included in the final publication:“The Universal Sea – The Art and Innovation Guide Against The Plastic Epidemic”, 2019, 464 pages, English, Softcover, Edited by Foundation Entrepreneurship and Institute for Art and Innovation, Berlin
 

“Nature is no passive victim of polluting humanity but a gigantic, self-purging force that both creates and destroys.” – Uncensored: Camille Paglia on Rihanna, Identity Politics, and Sexuality, V Magazine, interview with Camille Paglia (March 2017)

A fountain spills a collection of high quality tropical plastic plants that direct and turn the falling water into a continue delicate dripping. A mesh is disposed under the plants, suspended from the ground; it is composed by a special synthetic fabric able to hold back micro plastic fibers.

Micro plastic fibers constitute the most invisible yet dangerous kind of pollution related to plastic waste, as at this stage the microscopical particles enter the alimentary chain. It is a pollution not exclusively related with solid plastic waste in the natural environment but caused also by simple human habits: removing cosmetics in the sink or washing synthetic cloths in washing machines are the main. A research conducted by OrbMedia, a no profit Washington DC based journalism organisation [1][2] estimates that around 83% of the tap water in the world contains micro plastic fibers.

The fountain is designed to put in evidence this invisible pollution. The mesh may slowly gathers little amount of plastic both coming from the water and the imperceptible decline of the plastic plant’s surfaces. The plastic plants deals with the  superficiality that transform a very durable matter in useless and disposable products. They also underline the beauty of the sculptural and functional natural forms as well the great imitative ability of the human technologies.

If the Israelian Ben-Gurion University has developed a bacteria genetically modified to feed off polyethylene-terephthalate (PET)[3],making it become degradable and corruptible like every organic matter, we can imagine a future where plastic plants will be as organic as natural ones: a future this project wants to deal with.

1.Invisibles: The plastic inside us, by Chris Tyree & Dan Morrison, https://orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_plastics

2.Plastic fibres found in tap water around the world, study reveals, The Guardian, September 5, 2017,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals

3.Genetically Modified Bacteria Could Eat Away The World’s Massive Plastic Problem, by Einat Paz-Frankel, NoCamels, January 22, 2017. http://nocamels.com/2017/01/genetically-modified-bacteria-eat-plastic