Would you wash your hands with soap made from sewage? Catherine Sarah Young (Philippines) Sewer Soaperie turns raw sewage and fat into luxury soaps. Extreme storms now frequently overwhelm drains, pipes and sewerage systems, causing flooding in major cities. Large lumps of coagulated grease, known as ‘fatbergs’, clog the system and create flooding. These greasy beasts are created…
Science Gallery Melbourne throws down the gauntlet and sets an ambitious challenge: can we find a new plastic-eating bacteria in Australia? This project asks citizen scientists to culture bacteria in the search for a new species that could solve our plastic waste dilemma. The lid has been lifted on human wastefulness, but what next? Science…
Janna Ahrndt (United States of America) Will you truthfully track your environmental goals? Like a Fitbit for your ethical performance, P@tch is a textile-based new media project inspired by punk and DIY culture. Each homemade P@tch uses self-reporting and environmental sensors to allow the user to track their personal and surrounding pollution. P@tch participants will set…
Artist Oliver Kellhammer’s work allows you to watch the mealworms as they dine on polystyrene. Oliver Kellhammer (United States of America) Do solutions to our recycling crisis exist in nature? Nature is outsmarting us. Solutions to our enormous waste problems are often right in front of us. Polystyrene is a non-biodegradable material that is…
Science Gallery Melbourne’s pop-up program DISPOSABLE will highlight experimental and creative ways to tackle our ever growing excess of waste. DISPOSABLE locations will include The University of Melbourne’s Parkville and Southbank campuses, along with unique sites throughout Melbourne. The lid has been lifted on human wastefulness, but what next? Following the lead of Australian cult-hero,…
Come celebrate the first Friday of the month at Southbank’s Testing Grounds with DISPOSABLE artworks Fatberg and Sewer Soaperie. It’s the first Friday of the month again and Testing Grounds is bringing you installations, exhibition openings and performances, including DISPOSABLE artworks Fatberg by UK artists Mike Thompson and Arne Hendricks and The Sewer Soaperie by Catherine Sarah Young. Plus there’s fire pits to keep you warm…
Do we really understand fat? Artists Arne Hendriks and Mike Thompson invite you to join them at Testing Grounds to build Australia’s first purpose-built island of fat, and to ask – What is fat? What does it want? What is fat’s future? And do we really know fat? In November 2017, the 130-tonne ‘Monster of…
For so long, our own waste has been a topic of embarrassment and shame. But we need to break down the taboo of poo! SH*T HAPPENS will see poets and scientists come together to celebrate our sewage, bringing excitement to our excrement and all the other wonderful creations our bodies work hard to produce. Spontaneous…
Felicity Spear, in her exhibition Umwelten – eco-fields and other universes, has created circular paintings on wood, encircled by profiles of the human skull. They are speculations about the possibilities for other habitats or other universes beyond our sensorium at either a micro or macro level. In 1909, the biologist Jakob von Uexküll introduced the…
“Rivers signify tribal boundaries, gatherings for corroboree, life, not only for humans but for all living creatures” – Maree Clarke. Created by Boon Wurrung artist Mitch Mahoney and Mutti Mutti/Yorta Yorta and Boon Wurrung/Wemba Wemba artist Maree Clarke, Eel Trap is a 10-metre installation made of biodegradable reeds and grasses on the Maribyrnong River. Inspired by traditional Aboriginal eel traps and made of…
Join a brilliant panel who won’t shy away from the yuck-factor to find innovative solutions to our over consumption of… everything. Would you break the law to save the world? We’re living in a world of finite resources, yet there are laws in place preventing us from using these resources wisely. Join us as we lift the lid…
Is ochre the new spray paint? Walrus of Peace investigates a non-toxic, environmentally friendly, recyclable, alternative set of materials for temporary street art installations. Bendigo Artists Inc (Australia) Street art is a popular form of creative expression, but it has lots of environmental and ethical issues. The paints and acetate used are pretty harsh on the artists…