Out to Sea? The Plastic Garbage Project

Please be invited to 

Out to Sea? The Plastic Garbage Project

at Hong Kong Science Museum

27th Nov.2015 to 17th Feb.2016

I'm honoured to contribute a Trash-Land-Art installation to the exhibition Out to Sea? The Plastic Garbage Project at the Hong Kong Science Museum. The installation is supported by the ever inspiring HK Youth Arts Foundation and will be displayed from 27.Nov.2015 to 17.Feb.2016. Our installation is called Stains / 污點  and consists of 17 circles of marine litter, each in a different colour. 

The concept for Out to Sea? The Plastic Garbage Project brings together science and art and originates from the Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich. Their exhibition gathers complex facts of plastics and its environmental consequences in an easily understandable way. Art as an intermediator to make scientific facts more juicy and interesting - what an inpiring way to learn! So lots of great reasons for you to visit the HK Science Museum again. 

Hope to see you there!

眼前所見的作品是利用南大嶼山籮箕灣海灘上的廢棄物製作而成。40名來自香港航海學校及圓玄學院妙法寺內明陳呂重德紀念中學的學生在一個白天的時間，已經收集了共28袋的80公升海灘廢棄物，而它們主要來自中國內地及香港本地。環保藝術家liina klauss自2011年開始創作「垃圾山水」系列作品，所有作品只會按照廢棄物的原有顏色、形狀及大小分類，而「污點」是其中一組作品。藝術家希望藉着環境藝術裝置，讓大眾提升減廢的意識。這系列作品不但改變人們對藝術的印象，亦讓人反思人類的消費模式，從而傳達環境保護的信息，並實踐liina所想：「是廢亦是寶，你的看法可改變一切」。

more info on HK Science Musuem here
more info on Plastic Garbage Project here
more pictures of 污點 / Stains here

* on the above photos you see art-awareness-activists from Hong Kong Sea School and The Yuen Yuen Institute MFBM Nei Ming Chan Lui Chung Tak Memorial College helping to create 'Stains'. I would like to thank them for their hard work and passion to change the world with their own two hands!

in-spired

the hongkong air is extremely polluted the past couple of days. my daughter has developed a slight form of asthma because of it. it makes me cry.
i see, smell, touch, taste, hear and feel the world around me. 

i am not happy for my children, for myself or for anyone, to breath in polluted air, to swim in an ocean of plastic, to walk on concreted soil. i am not happy to see the earth filled up with indigestible waste. i am not happy to feed my children toxic food. i am not happy to be part of the destruction. 

yet it is our choice. we made the choice to live this way.

we gave velocity & mobility priority over slowness and quiet. convenience over simplicity. cleanliness over soil and sweat. safety over adventure. concepts over spontaneity. 

we planed, designed, calculated, manufactured and created this future we're living in now.

it is still our choice, every single moment we have the choice.
a pilot friend of mine told me in his 15-years career he's seen beijing for the first time from above. literally. seen the city. for once there was no smog. the reason was 'golden week', a nation wide holiday when all factories are shut down for a continuous period of 7 days.
the change is always here and now! in fact it can only be here and now.

walk barefoot. drink from a mountain stream. eat fresh fruits from a tree. let nature feed you. close your eyes and look into the sun. see the colours. smell the grass. feel the wind.

blaming others is not the answer. blaming yourself is not the answer. both are destructive and wasting creative energy. 
i don't want to make a grouchy face like in this photo anymore !

we are capable of so much more.

we are and only we can be the solution.

anytime. 

any place. 

any person. 

all change starts within.

ocean hero

Ecozine summer edition 2015

within two hours we find 246 shoes. a friend of mine and me are on a beautiful beach in south lantau. we're by ourselves except a fisherman on a rock in the far distance. the beach is filled with white sand and embraced by big bleached boulders on both sides. the water is clear and soft waves fill the air with a calming swoosh. a black kite is soaring high above us. on the horizon small islands are in a misty blur. for thousands of years chinese artists have captured this serenity of nature on paper. these ink scrolls are called 山水. literally 山 means mountain and 水 means water, translated as 'landscape'. for thousands of years this landscape has not changed. but starting 50 years ago a third element, man-made,  has entered the picture: plastic. our civilization will be remembered by this element, because it lasts hundreds maybe thousands of years. we do not know the exact durability because we are in this experiment for the first time ever. 
500 years ago leonardo da vinci drew a picture called 'le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo vitruvio'. it depicts a beautiful man in a circle with his arms and legs stretched out and free. it is the artist's observation of the proportions of the human body and the translation of those natural measurements into architecture. nature was the artist's paradigm for the creation of beauty. today we still possess this tremendous creative power. the centre of the circle is the human navel: all comes from within us, imagined by the human mind, materialized by human hands. yet today we cannot move freely anymore. lying in this circle of marine litter i feel like lying in a body cast. we have created an avalanche of material beauty that has gotten out of hands. we have created a reality in which we cannot swim in the sea anymore, because it is full of trash. we cannot eat fish anymore because it is contaminated. we cannot appreciate the horizon anymore because it is blurred by smog. we believe that we need 'things' to make life easier, more comfortable, essentially happier. and this surely is true to some extend, but today we have lost the sense of proportion! do we really need 20 pairs of shoes in our closet? do we really need bottled water from the other end of the globe for lunch? rather than working to earn the money to buy another pair of shoes, would it not be wonderful to spend that time walking barefoot on a beautiful beach? rather than drinking sterilized water from a plastic bottle would it not be wholesome to drink cool fresh water from a mountain stream? 
the relation of man and nature is what da vinci captured ingeniously in his drawing 500 years ago. this relationship has never changed. we are still striving for a balanced and harmonious life. for me personally nature is the answer. all of what we are looking for is already here. it is just outside of our civilized reality, waiting for us to arrive. now.

this portrait is called 'out of proportion' and is part of the series 'trash-land-art / 垃圾山水'. 

Premiere of documentary-movie "垃圾山水 / Landscape of Rubbish"

I'm excited to invite you to the premiere of the 20 minutes documentary 

"垃圾山水 / Landscape of Rubbish"

by Taiwanese film-maker You-Xue Lin

on October 18th at 13:30 at "Fuzhong 15" Cinema in New Taipei City

Please watch the trailer: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0msJa_wBwkcMTMxaGZFUzJCWlU/view?pli=1

More info on the venue: http://web.fuzhong15.ntpc.gov.tw/films/movie.aspx?id=1338

1OOO LOST SOLES // WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Trash-Land-Art installation using 1000 shoes from the Ocean 

for Imagine Peace Festival 2015 

Here you can see an art-installation made from 1000 shoes washed ashore on beaches of South Lantau. In only 7 hours, 19 volunteers collected all of these shoes on three different shores. They originate from Mainland China as well as directly from Hong Kong. 

3 beaches + 19 volunteers + 7 hours = 1000 shoes! 

The lost shoes are not painted or changed in any other way: They are merely sorted by colour and arranged in a circle. Where are we going? //1000 Lost Soles is part of liina's trash-land-art series which she has been persuing since 2011. With her environmental installations liina hopes to create awareness to value more and waste less. These installations not only challenge our perception of art but also our behaviour as consumers and responsibility for nature.

我們的去向

以1000雙漂浮海洋的鞋製作的「垃圾山水」裝置藝術

2015想像平和節展

你眼前的裝置藝術是由1000雙被沖上大嶼山南部沙灘的鞋所製成。僅於短短7小時，19名義工已從三個沙灘收集到這1000雙鞋子。它們有的經中國大陸水流沖至沙灘，有的來自港本地海上垃圾。這些被遺下的鞋子不經調色或修改，只是按顏色編織成一個彩色圓形，把本地海洋污染的問題活現眼前。自2011年，藝術家Liina已開始籌備「垃圾山水」系列中的新作品─我們的去向。她希望透過作品，向觀眾帶出「珍惜．減廢」的意識。這大膽的展品不但挑戰人們對藝術的固有看法，而且警惕大眾應在消耗用品的同時，不忘反思自己的消費行為和對大自然的應有責任。

萬物可以成為藝術，

藝術可以成就萬物。

敝屣或瑰寶?

細看小島再動腦，你會分辨到。

棄置或重視？

環境保護要及時，請放膽一試。

Anything can be art.

Art can be anything.

You decide wether it is waste or value.

The power lies in your perception!

You decide wether to waste or to value.

The power lies in your action!

where are we going?

please be invited to 

IMAGINE PEACE FESTIVAL 2015

19th & 20th Sept. 2015, Treasure Island, Pui O Beach, Lantau

        sketch for 'where are we going' installation for IMAGINE PEACE 2015

for this inspiring festival volunteers and i will create an outdoor installation made from 1000 shoes collected over the last four months on beaches of south lantau. set in the beautiful scenery of pui o wetlands and named 'where are we going?' or '1000 lost soles' this installation is part of my trash-land-art series which i have been persuing since 2011. 

the over-production and over-consumption of our throwaway-society has become out of hands:

3 beaches + 19 volunteers + 7 hours = 1000 shoes! 

we find human products not only in the vicinity of their owners, shops and homes, but thrown into the country-side, buried in the earth and floating in the sea. by colour coordinating and sorting these products i'm using the same method as the advertising: i'm making sh*t look good! yet i'm not trying to sell you anything. i want you to buy into the awareness to value more and waste less! trash-land-art not only challenges our perception of art but also our behaviour as consumers and reminds us of our responsibility for mother earth.

                                                                 rendering for 'where are we going' installation for IMAGINE PEACE 2015

apart from my installation there are great musicians, yoga teachers and fire spinners who all perform for you. there will be wholesome vegetarian food. there will be awesome workshops. there will be time and space to share. so if you like to experience the beauty of hongkong's countryside, listen to great life music, see art, make art, dance, sing and feel free then this is your festival! pack your tent and come to IMAGINE PEACE 2015! links for workshop schedule, line-up and tickets see below.

more information about IMAGINE PEACE 2015 can be found here: www.facebook.com/ImaginePeaceHK

tickets here: www.dropbox.com/sh/tnzd9pun1ilwp3n/AABB52Ryr83-GU9HDdjPdqX-a?dl=0

looking forward to seeing you there!

trash-land-art in portugal

Marine litter, is it trash or treasure?  The answer at Plasticity Forum 2015 in Cascais, Portugal was definitely: Treasure! Plasticity is a yearly conference bringing together representatives of the plastic manufacturing industry as well as recycling industry, plastic researchers, designers, conservationists and municipal representatives to discuss the future of plastic and solutions for a sustainable life with plastic. Thanks to Doug Woodring, founder of Ocean Recovery Alliance, I was invited to create an environmental installation at the Plasticity Forum in order to raise awareness for marine pollution in Portugal. 

 

Here's a short version of the concept: Regarding the questions 'Where does it come from?' and 'Where is away?' the installation 'circle' gives a holistic answer showing the interconnectedness and continuum of all life as well as the implications of our human actions. The installation questions our value system by showing trash as something beautiful and valuable and challenging the viewer in his/her traditional believes: 'Is it still ugly? When did it become beautiful? Is this art or is this trash?' The magic of transforming trash into treasure becomes a visual and sensual experience. The goal of 'circle' to spark curiosity, to offer a different view-point and to trigger dialogue about plastic and marine pollution. Here are pictures of the making-process:

This was my very first trash-land-art installation outside of South-East Asia! Compared to Hong Kong the waste found on Portugal's beaches was not any different: Marine litter that gets washed ashore consists of things that floats and is pretty much the same all around the world. The quantity in Portugal is clearly less than in Hong Kong: 25 bags (50l) collected in 3 days on a 45 km stretch of beach but it is still too much. 

Pollution in Portugal in numbers:

cotton buds: 348

plastic bottles (water): 333

glass bottles (beer): 119

styrofoam boxes (fish bait): 131

plastic bottles (drinking yoghurt):  98

salt plastic bottles:  30

My gratitude to Doug Woodring of Ocean Recovery Alliance for inviting me to Plasticity!  An equally big thanks to ByFusion, a New York based environmental technology company for sponsoring my stay (waste as value & recovery as a solution - please visit www.byfusion.com). Thanks to all the volunteers for their time and enthusiasm as well as to Associação Portuguesa do LixoMarinho and Brigada do Mar for organizing all the prior logistics of collecting, sorting and storing trash/treasure. And last but not least I'm particulartly happy that the installation 'circle' will be reused for educational purposes in collaboration with Dr.Paula Sobral, professor for Environmental Studies at Nova Lisbon University.  May the ripples spread wide and far!

Installation & Workshop for Zero Waste Week

I've been keeping quiet about my installation 'the present' which will be  part of the first ever Zero Waste Week here in Hong Kong! All I can say about this art-installation is that it's shockingly plenti-and colourful! You have to see it with your own eyes:)

Zero Waste Week is organized by Ecozine and HKCleanup. It includes a Youth Conference from Monday-Wednesday, a summit on Thursday&Friday and a weekend open to the public with free workshops and a market themed all around sustainability and environmental awareness. Definitely more than one reason to head out to Cyberport! 

More info here: www.ecozine.com/article/zero-waste-global-summit

Please be invited to my workshop 'Tracing Waste' on Saturday 14.June from 11am-12:30pm as part of Zero Waste Week. Combining realistic drawing and creative writing this workshop answers the question so many of us ask upon seeing the amount of waste washed ashore in Hong Kong: "Why?" Like archeologists we will trace waste back to its origins: observing reality through life drawing, asking the right questions and writing a story combining the facts we gathered with fiction. The workshop is open to all ages (adults are welcome:) and you need to bring nothing but your openminded self! 

More photos of this workshop are here: http://wunderkinderhongkong.blogspot.hk/2015/03/be-true-detective.html?m=1

It was so inspiring to meet Paul Connett, the man on the forefront of the Zero Waste Movement. Thanks so much for coming to Hong Kong - your vision is needed here more than anywhere else!

More info on facebook.com/artofliinaklauss

an installation for Plasticity Forum in Portugal!

draft for 'circle' 垃圾山水 trash-land-art installation in Cascais, Portugal

200 attendees 48 hours 25 speakers one important conversation: THE FUTURE OF PLASTIC!  Plasticity Forum, organized by Ocean Recovery Alliance is an annual conference held June 8 – 9 in Cascais, Portugal. The forum forms part of a global series of events in Portugal: The Economist’s World Ocean Summit and Portugal’s Blue Week. Building on the success of the previous Plasticity Forums in Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and New York, this year’s forum will focus on "Designing for Circularity, Customer Engagement, Reverse Supply Chains and Reaching Scale”. 

I'm proud to be making a trash-land-art installation called 'circle' for Plasticity Forum at Cicadela Historic Hotel in Cascais open for visitors from 4.-10.June. Two great marine protection organizations have already started to collect trash/treasure: Associação Portuguesa do Lixo Marinho and Brigada do Mar. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm! And of course we always want to inpire more: If you are in the area and interested to be part of the 'art-awareness-activism' please connect HERE for schedule and event details. The more people, the more art, the more fun, the more awareness!

Here's a short version of the concept: Regarding the questions 'Where does it come from?' and 'Where is away?' the installation 'circle' gives a holistic answer showing the interconnectedness and continuum of all life as well as the implications of our human actions. The installation questions our value system by showing trash as something beautiful and valuable and challenging the viewer in his/her traditional believes: 'Is it still ugly? When did it become beautiful? Is this art or is this trash?' The magic of transforming trash into treasure becomes a visual and sensual experience. The goal of 'circle' to spark curiosity, to offer a different view-point and to trigger dialogue about plastic and marine pollution.

For more details please check my facebook page ... Hope to see you in Portugal:)