1. worldsfair
  2. This hell that floats in our oceans: Plastic by the numbers as a form of art.

This hell that floats in our oceans: Plastic by the numbers as a form of art.

By worldsfair on May 11, 2009.


i-8a31c4e2a4586fa8dda7d7721b61197e-plastic.png


Science Scout twitter feed

Chris Jordan has done it again. And if you're not sure who this fellow is, then let me be the first to introduce you to this digital artist extraordinaire, who creates these magnificent images of consumption in our world.

The latest is a little mindboggling to say the least. Called "Gyre," this image:

Depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.

Now these images are huge - this one being 8 by 11 feet. But that allows you to look from afar like this:


i-0d4a064f755234d976fcd4d4abafc7e0-gyre1.png

And get closer...


i-6f6b95a0dd7aaec01eae9ba2d13fb2fd-gyre2.png

And closer...


i-cb5c204f33ea48c090a33ad89aa4dcb4-gyre3.png

And closer...


i-d8a412419af0e08e2c05ddaaa7e5c266-gyre4.png

Until you can see each and every piece of garbage in tantalizing detail.


i-ba737e33b88695bd06e6d4a2e383dd1a-gyre5.png

This is utterly appalling. All this crap, representing the number of pounds of plastic dumped into the ocean every hour!

I guess sometimes it takes a pretty picture to reveal an ugly reality. More of Chris's remarkable work can be found here.

You can also find our prior references to Jordan's work at this Timebomb post, this one about disposable cups, and here, on What We Waste. Also see our brief mention last year of the Great Pacific Trash Vortex and then the New Yorker's article on Plastiki from last month.

Tags
The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building

More like this

Garbage, Waste, Consumption (Landscape and Modernity, Series 7)
A slow June at the Fair (see here for an explanation), but I'm popping in to share what constitutes a different sort of landscape image(s) below. Here's the first: The Citarum River in Indonesia. Here we have landscapes of garbage, scenes of environments overwhelmed with waste, with excess, with…
Project Kaisei/Scripps Documents North Pacific Gyre
tags: Project Kaisei, Oceanography, North Pacific Gyre, North Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic, pollution, environment, streaming video Underwater videographer, underwater photographer, and author, Annie Crawley joined Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Project Kaisei aboard the New Horizon on a 3…
What a mess we've made! The 2008 International Coastal Cleanup Report
The results are in from the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup, and boy, do we make a mess of our oceans and beaches. The Ocean Conservancy had almost 400,000 volunteers worldwide picking up trash on land and off shore for the annual event. Last year, they picked up 6.8 million - that's 6,800,000…
Britain's Most Wanted: Yellow Plastic Duckies
tags: oceanography, plastic bathtub toys, duckies Have you seen one of these duckies? (May be bleached white by now). If so, please report your find to researcher, Curtis Ebbesmeyer. Image: Simon de Bruxelles. If you live in Great Britain, you could earn a £50 (US$100) reward if you find a…

That's one helluva I Spy game

By ABradford (not verified) on 11 May 2009 #permalink

Trash going into the oceans is horrible, but that's no call to get into pseudoscience (the "trash vortex" myth - http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4132). Accurate information and real facts don't need garbage arguments.

I think Badger is right to show concern for empirically supported views on trash in the oceans. I think, though, that the more important empirical evidence here is the amount of consumption and disposal of plastics in our lifestyles. Jordan's art calls attention to that obscene glut. The link to the Pacific Trash Vortex -- a separate, non-Jordan link -- shouldn't over-ride or derail the bigger issue at stake. Read the New Yorker's Plastiki article for other info; but don't go to Greenpeace for the bottom line, whose map is misleading even if their purpose in preparing it was to introduce awareness to our glut.