Scheibe & Güntzel

PLASTISPHERE/Vortex Thessaloniki, 2016
Intervention

In the course of the preparation of the project PLASTISPHERE/Thessaloniki the artists explored the streets of Thessaloniki already in November 2015. During one of their walks they observed how the wind was taking up hundreds of plastic bags lying around in the streets of the „Chinese Quarter“ of Thessaloniki. They collected the garbage and reenacted the situation they had witnessed in the cultural venue „Old Slaughterhouse“ which is located close to the Chinese Quarter.

PLASTISPHERE is a project designed for the PUBLIC SPACE that conceptually investigates the anthropogenic pollution of the oceans and the presence of plastic in our everyday lives by the German artists Swaantje Güntzel and Jan Philip Scheibe. The project touches topics such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, microplastics, noise pollution, beach littering, plastisphere, problems in urban waste management, our purchasing behavior and its consequences for marine life resulting therefrom. PLASTISPHERE tracks down the origins of marine pollution and brings them into the public imagination. The project playfully engages and comments on our consumer and waste management habits, our polluting lifestyles overwhelming the natural world and our inability to address this global problem.

PLASTISPHERE/Thessaloniki was realized in February/March 2016 as Residency #1 of ARTECITYA "Envisioning the City of Tomorrow" in collaboration with artbox, Goethe Institut Thessaloniki under the framework of Creative Europe.

ARTECITYA Scheibe & Güntzel

Foto: Giorgos Kogias

Video: Grigoris Tsolakis