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!

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

another round ....

and another circle is completed  

wishing you a year full of creativity and connection both within and without! 

photograph from the series 'O', lantau island, 2016

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!

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:)