2023, Filter brush, pipe, LED, sensor, 300×250×1000cm. Commissioned by Sea Art Festival 2023.

The Mariana Trench is the deepest point in the ocean, extending nearly 36,000 feet down in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. One might think that the deep sea such as at this point in the Pacific might be a dark, lifeless place, and a place with no signs of human activity. But recent explorations showed that not only the Mariana Trench is a place of diverse life, including different species such as corals, octopus and jellyfish, this deep ocean, remote place couldn’t escape human impact as plastic and chemical pollutants have also reached the deepest parts of the ocean. Currently up to 199 million tons of plastic are polluting our oceans, and if we continue to produce so much plastic, by 2050, our oceans will have more plastic than fish, continuing to affect marine life, fisheries, coastlines, tourism, and our food chain. Studio 1750, taking as a starting point their previous work Parallel Gardens (2018), they have created an imaginary garden, an artificially changing environment that alludes to environments being transformed by human intervention, but also to a bizarre coral-reef like structure. This new installation and almost alien environment, Aquatic Garden, invites visitors to a walk-through, while assuming the role of a new and peculiar species that mutates and evolves due to environmental or genetic influences in order to survive such an unnatural environment. Mutation, an “error” in DNA replication or resulting from damaging effects of pollution, radiation or chemicals, becomes a battle coming to terms with loss. In this performative, but also playful and interactive installation, the artists are expressing their concerns and anxieties for a world changing towards the unknown. Aren’t we humans, who are inhabiting cities of desires made up of artificial structures, objects and artificial gardens, accelerating the spread of new viruses as errors of our collective “intelligence”? In the present, living in a future that was feared in the past - we hope it is now the time to ask questions about what the sea means to us and what future we imagine for this ecosystem. Visitors are invited to make a sea creature paper hat at the Sea Art Festival Lab to wear and be part of the installation.