update!

I’m immensely grateful and proud of our team Moritz Stefaner (data visualization) & Skye Morèt (marine scientist & artist) and myself to have won the data visualization track for National Geographic’s Ocean Plastic Challenge. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped and believed in us and our crazy vision to make a tangible data-sculpture out of thousands of pieces of marine debris. It seams impossible until it's done!
The images and more details will be published in NatGeo magazine soon. This stunning shot below is by Lawrence Cowell (@el_influenza / Instagram) .



O-ton from National Geographic Society: "We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge! Congratulations to @algramo @qwarzo and @PerpetualPlastic. The winners were chosen out of 291 teams, and their projects tackle the plastic issue from three different tracks: design, data visualization and circular economy. Photo: The #PerpetualPlastic team creates physical data sculptures out of waste washed up on Bali’s beaches that represent the paths and fate of all plastics ever produced."

Skye and myself while building #PerpetualPlastic within 24h

AND THERE IS MORE GREAT NEWS TO COME: BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I HAVE A GREAT NEW WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE TO HAVE A LOOK! 
My website was created by this talented designer & photographer and great friend: teschka! 

Teresa Schebiella also takes great photos! Check out her eye candy here!

“Beyond Plastic”

I want to share some photos of “Beyond Plastic”exhibition in Hong Kong earlier this year. To be invited to contribute an installation to the prestigious Heritage1881 building, one of the most famous heritage buildings in Hong Kong, shows the importance and concern that cultural institutions, brands and the public are now placing on marine pollution. 

Driven by concern and love for the ocean environmental artist Liina Klauss joins hands with Plastic-Free-Seas foundation and sponsor Breguet. “Beyond Plastic: Breguet, the Marine Explorer” showcases an array of artworks with deep connection to marine. The spotlight falls on the large-scale installation created by German artist Liina Klauss consisting of well over 10.000 pieces of marine litter collected on Hong Kongs shores. The installation is shown at the former Marine Police Headquaters at Heritage1881 and is open for public viewing on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st of March 2019. 

About Race for Water, a Foundation to Preserve Water 

The Race for Water Foundation is an organization dedicated to water preservation and the ocean in particular. This indispensable resource is under massive threat from plastic pollution and must be protected. The Foundation aims to identify, promote and implement solutions that will give end-of-life plastic a value and create new sources of income for the people most affected by pollution. Using this innovative approach inspired by the principles of a circular economy and social entrepreneurship, Race for Water Foundation seeks to prevent plastic litter from reaching waterways and leaking all the way down to the ocean. 

About Liina Klauss 

Liina Klauss is a German artist living in Hong Kong specialized in environmental art. Her installations and paintings are inspired by nature using man-made and natural waste as art material. Through her works she hopes to raise awareness for the threatening impact we humans have on nature.

About Plastic Free Seas 
Plastic Free Sea’s mission is to provide education free of charge to students on plastic marine pollution, focusing on the causes, effects and solutions. PFS is a leader in marine-focused education in Hong Kong, and to date, the charity has had a presence in more than 125 schools and has reached over 48,000 students and teachers with school talks, beach cleanups, a swimming classroom boat programme and youth conferences.

About Breguet 

Breguet, established since 1775, embodies watchmaking excellence and forms part of the European cultural heritage, brimming with history. From the start, Breguet has woven close ties with science and astronomy. Breguet takes pride in offering exceptional models, such as the Marine É quation Marchante 5887, a Grande Complication model that marks the start of a new era for the contemporary Marine collection.

My gratitude goes out to the main sponsor Breguet: Thank you for sharing my passion for the ocean and investing into rasing awareness for ocean pollution! Another big thanks to What-If events for believing in me and to Plastic Free Seas and all volunteers for helping me to realise this large-scale project! 

Photo credit: Teschka
More photos can be viewed here

Potato Head meets Art Activist liina klauss

Potato Head and Art Activist Liina Klauss Draw Attention To Ocean Plastics with an Installation of Salvaged Flip-Flops

The large-scale artwork launches Saturday, 19 May at the entrance to Potato Head Beach Club

This May, Potato Head will shed light on the ecological harm caused by the world’s most ubiquitous form of footwear: the flip-flop. Millions of pairs of the synthetic shoe wash ashore around the globe each year, and as a brand surrounded by paradisal beaches, Potato Head is determined to draw attention to the serious issue of ocean plastics through a colourful installation of salvaged sandals.

In its ongoing mission to ‘provide good times and do good in the world,’ Potato Head has teamed up with award-winning German art activist Liina Klauss to demonstrate the reality of marine pollution. The artist has created a large-scale installation constructed from over 5,000 plastic flip-flops, all picked up along the shores of Bali’s west coast. Klauss and a small team of helpers amassed the large volume of shoes in a series of six beach clean-ups, while the artwork itself took weeks to build.

“I want to show people a different perspective on what we consider ‘rubbish,’” says Klauss. “Everything we throw away comes back to us (via the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil we grow crops and raise animals on). Flip-flops are just one example; there is potential within all these materials we waste and consider worthless."

To realise this project—a rainbow-hued structure that takes the shape of an ocean wave—Klauss collaborated with two Ubud, Bali-based initiatives. Multi-disciplinary firm IBUKU designed and built the frame from sustainably harvested bamboo, while POTATO HEAD FAMILY Jl. Pantai Pererenan No.149 Pererenan, Bali +62 361 907 8108 the Innovation Lab at Green School supplied a ‘thread’ made entirely from melted- down plastic bottle caps for which to attach the sandals.

The work is installed at the entrance to Potato Head Beach Club from 19 May and on view throughout the 2019 summer season. 

'2020 lost soles' for microgalleries Jakarta

When we put on shoes we put a sole between our feet and the soil we walk on.

When we put on shoes we put a layer of cushioned culture between us and nature. 

When is the last time you walked barefoot? 

All the 2020 shoes you see here were abandoned in Jakarta last month. Yearly an estimated 16 million flip-slops are thrown away, abandoned or lost in Jakarta alone. Over 8 billion flip-flops (we're only talking flip-flops!) are manufactured worldwide each year. This trash-land-art installation called '2020 lost soles' and is but the tiniest mirror of our throw-away society. A huge THANK YOU goes to Greeneration Indonesia and to waste4change and to EcoBali Recycling for helping to collect the 2020 shoes from the streets and from private households in Jakarta!

microgalleries reclaims disused and forgotten spaces and reactivates them as tiny galleries that are free and accessible to the local community. Bringing together international and local artists, it features work that challenges ingrained ideas, blurs the line between street art and fine art, and aims to help change the way we see the world, our environment and our community – even for a micro moment.

more pics on instagram !

2000 lost soles

Happy World Oceans Day 2017!

2000 abandoned shoes were used to create this 'trash-land-art | 垃圾山水' installation within the past two days leading up to World Oceans Day with the help of an amazing team of friends and support from  PlasticFreeSeas , Ecomarine and  LivingLamma ! These shoes are all marine litter and were collected over the past months on three different beaches on Lantau, the biggest island of Hong Kong. The artist liina klauss creates these beautiful outdoor installations since 2011 as she says "making shit look good" to raise awareness for the pollution of our oceans. 

'2000 lost soles' at Tong Fuk pebble beach, South Lantau, HK

The installation is part of a larger project called '10.000 lost soles' (#10000lostsoles). liina asks schools, corporates and individuals to collect abandoned shoes on beaches, in country parks and in the city of Hong Kong itself until the number of 10.000 is reached. Then an even bigger outburst of colour is waiting to come alive! 

Keilem from Ecomarine helping to paint the blues

Dana and Julia from Plastic Free Seas adding last soles to '2000 lost soles'

HELP COLLECTING!

Collection points are on Lantau Island, Hong Kong:

- Lo Kei Wan Beach

- Tong Fok Pebble Beach

- Tai Long Wan Beach 

Or start your own collection point on a beach near you! If you are a teacher, an enthusiastic hiker, a nature lover or corporate and feel inspired to help, please contact any one of the NGOs: PlasticFreeSeas , Ecomarine,  LivingLamma or the artist directly.

Year 4 students from Rennaissance College in Hong Kong helping to sort the mess

"The heritage of pollution that we pass on to our children is traumatizing. My goal is to give children the possibility to work creatively in nature, seeing and grasping the impact of man-made pollution and finding a creative translation for this trauma with their own two hands. It is by no means the solution. But it is in its own a form of cure and a way to shift awareness."                      (liina klauss)

#10000lostses #lostsoles #flipflops #shoes #withyourowntwohands #curatingthebeach   #plastic #outofhands #marinepollution #marinelitter #marinedebris #plasticocean #pickitup #plasticpollution #pollutionhongkong #marinepollutionhongkong #pollution #awarenessactivismart #artactivism #awareness #consciousness #landart #1000lostsoles #liinaklauss #trashlandart #landart #activismhongkong #landarthongkong #垃圾山水

10.000 lost soles

I'm embarking on a new project! WE are! 

The goal is to collect 10.000 shoes on on shore lines, mountains and forests of Hong Kong. This is a continuation of a land-art project '1.000 lost soles' which started in 2015, where we used 1.000 shoes to create a circle at Pui O wetlands, an endangered eco-system on Lantau Island. It is alarming, to say the least, how over-production and over-consumption in our industrial age has become out of hands. We find human products not only in cities and homes, but floating in the sea, buried in the earth and lost in the landscape of nature.

HELP COLLECTING To be part of a bigger picture. To create awareness to value more and waste less. To be the solution you want to see in the world. To connect.  To simply be in nature. 

Collection points are on Lantau Island, Hong Kong:

- Lo Kei Wan Beach

- Pui O Pebble Beach

- Tai Long Wan Beach

Trash-land-art not only challenges our perception of art but also our behaviour as consumers and responsibility for nature. 

more info and recent pics on my www.facebook.com/artofliinaklauss

#10000lostses #lostsoles #flipflops #shoes #withyourowntwohands #curatingthebeach   #plastic #outofhands #marinepollution #marinelitter #marinedebris #plasticocean #pickitup #plasticpollution #pollutionhongkong #marinepollutionhongkong #pollution #awarenessactivismart #artactivism #awareness #consciousness #landart #1000lostsoles #liinaklauss #trashlandart #landart #activismhongkong #landarthongkong #垃圾山水

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!

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!

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:)

circle

垃圾山水 / trash-land-art no.6, repulse bay, hong kong 2013

my works don't last. usually they only live for a couple of hours. this is the most honest way to make art for me. it is very close to the nature of things. coming and going. rising and falling. growing and decaying. in a traditional sense art has always been about halting the wheel of time, about trying to make beauty last. a good piece of art gives the illusion to transcend the ephemerality of life. a moment in time, captured, frozen so that we may relive, refeel that same moment inside our perception, inside our reality, inside the here and now. eventually even that will go, everything will go, even the cave paintings that have lasted 35 thousand years. my works come from the opposite direction, they start at the other end. more like breathing in and breathing out, like tidal waves. trash comes with the pull of the moon. we come and see and recognize. then we collect, we curate and rearrange reality. then pause. capture and share. then we breath out, clean-up, carry the loads away. the sun sets. we go. quiet. there is always the question: is it enough? but we are too tired to answer it. not now. we're at peace. coming back a week later the beach is trashed again. press repeat: it seems to be the same beach, the same trash, the same effort. but it couldn't be more different. every installation is a story in its own. it has its own actors, time and outcome. the only constant is change. the only constant is the circle of coming and going.

'circle' installation, proposal for plasticity-forum, cascais, portugal 2015

words that matter most

here are some personal stories from this incredibly rich past year. because of these stories i am doing what i am doing.

'freedom to grow', the art of the umbrella movement, queen's rd.central, hong kong

one friday i sat at one of the tables on queen's road central. it was occupy time. and lunch time. two girls did their uni assignments in the ‘study area’ at the same table. behind me a carpenter made more tables. for more students. making space. building time. there was a general energy of helpfulness, politeness and presence. i myself did a plant carving dedicated to the movement. a women in her fivties sat down next to me with her lunch. she offered me some of the food from her lunch-box. we started talking. she was working as a warden in an underground car park. now during her lunch break was the only time she saw the sun. she told me she loved the umbrella movement: all of a sudden there was so much space in the middle of the city, there were people who had time, there were shared lunches and spontaneous conversations. you were not merely talking about the weather, you were talking about the things closest to your heart: about your ideals, about the future, about identity. it was the least thing i expected to happen in hongkong. i see hongkongers through different eyes now. i see that very near to the surface of conformity and obedience, there lies a deep longing for expression and freedom. when the women left she said ‘i love you’.

 '垃圾排檔 / lost'n'found', clockenflap 2014, west kowloon cultural district, hong kong

one of the most interesting conversations i had at clockenflap festival 2014 was with a toy designer. a plastic toy designer to be precise. she has been working in the toy business in china for over 30 years. so here we are, two women working with the same material, coming from exactly the opposite ends: she was designing and giving birth to plastic toys, i was picking up their remains after they had lived their consumer life. i have never heard so many up-to-date facts about chemical components, security standards, production procedures, recycling etc. and she was astonished about how much of it gets ‘lost’ in nature. funnily enough we felt very close. the last words were: 'i hate plastic' from both of us. 

'垃圾排檔 / lost'n'found', 'blue matters' campaign, ocean park hong kong

i was selling and talking trash at ocean park all day. as the closing of the park drew close flocks of people headed towards the exit streaming past the dai pai dong. ignoring the closing time a man approached the stall and looked at the items displayed on the shelves. after a while he said: 'my whole childhood is in this window.' and then he told me his story of when he was a little boy, his dad had given him a battery pack together with a tiny light bulb. exactly the same light bulb that i had found on the beach and put on display with the price tag 'response-ability'. as a boy he built a simple circuit by connecting the poles of the battery with the light bulb. it was magic. for hours he would hide under the blanket in his bed, play with the new discovery of electricity, read, think, sing ... it was his little world. just a blanket from the outside. his very own magic world inside. the man told me he works as a talk master for a radio station in hong kong. 'thank you' he said and left. i forgot his name. i will not forget his story and the moment it touched my story.

'mind your head' workshop for imagine peace 2014, pui o, lantau island, hong kong

judith and richard lang have been making art from marine debris for over 20 years now. they are from california, met on a beach and are still finding their art pieces on that very same beach. they came up with the term ‘curating the beach’. i love this term! 'curating' has its roots from the latin word ‘curare’ which means ‘to care for’ and at the same time ‘to cure’. by cleaning up a beach, we care and we cure that beach from its burden of trash. true magic is happening when not only that beach is being healed but at the same time it is us being healed. on the sunday of imagine peace 2014 on lantau island we did a nature walk to find trash&treasure for the workshop i was holding. we could all feel the magic happening. nature has the most forgiving and gentle embrace. there are no words for this. just gratitude. 

'垃圾山水 / trash-land-art no.11', shui hau beach, lantau, hongkong

i would like to thank each and everyone of you who has helped me realise my visions in 2014. everyone who has picked up trash and changed the landscape with their own two hands. everyone who has contributed to raise awareness and changed the inner landscape with their positive attitude. anyone who changed some of their consuming habits. anyone who has passed on the word, who spread the images or who simply read this blog. thank you from the bottom of my heart!

river of rubbish / 垃圾之河

 shui hau is a very special beach in hong kong: walking along the shore line mudskippers seemingly run on top of the water and make my children scream with excitement. fiddler crabs flash their bright red claws, mangroves grow in abundance and in its shallow waters horse-shoe crabs live. horse-shoe crabs are living fossils, having been around for 450 million years. shui hau is a rich habitat for wild life and is largely ignored by tourists except nature photographers and kite-surfers.

and even though there are so few people to be seen on this beach, the human impact is overwhelming and shocking: hundred meters of shoreline are polluted with waste washed in by the last typhoon. the mangroves are covered in plastic bags and fishing ropes, looking like decorated christmas trees. in the undergrowth styrofoam boxes and their remnants are piling up knee-deep. even though i'm living just 20 minutes away from this beach i did not know about this situation until someone posted a picture on facebook. so i went and had a look myself. the first impression was that of a 'river of rubbish': the rubbish was trapped between the mangroves and the natural tree line. that in itself being awful enough the thought that all of this rubbish is usually washed back into the ocean made me feel sick. tons and tons of plastic are circling in the world oceans, poisoning waters, killing sea life and ultimately getting back into our food-chain.

as an artist i don't have a solution at hand. i only know a solution for myself, for the sickness that i feel when seeing nature being abused. and that is action. awareness. and art. it converts my anxiety and my anger into something visible and positive. it brings people and community together. it makes us feel good and heals nature. and by doing so it heals ourselves.

river of rubbish / 垃圾之河

shui hau, lantau, hong kong 2014 / 水口,大嶼山 2014

No.11 of the series trash-land-art / 「垃圾山水」系列 – 作品11 

by liina klauss 

all items on this photo are waste washed ashore. they have been collected on one single beach within 24h by 80 people. colours are neither manipulated manually nor digitally. the reality of pollution you see has merely been rearranged. 

照片展示了一堆於海灘擱淺的廢物，它們由八十位人員於一天內收集。奪目的雜物絕非製於人手，也不經電腦調色，你目睹的，是被重新排列的污染物… 你也可以把垃圾變作鮮艷河道！您每天都會消耗許多日常用品嗎？不如重建您的日常概念，改變您的購買習慣，為了更美好的香港，作出減耗的明智之舉吧！