Gaia theory: Tania Kovats’ Evaporation makes art of the health of our oceans
Art is arguably at its most effective when it reflects the pressing issues affecting the world. So it's all the more poignant that artist Tania Kovats’ new installation at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), Evaporation, has climate change at its heart.
Art is arguably at its most effective when it reflects the pressing issues affecting the world. So it's all the more poignant that artist Tania Kovats’ new installation at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), Evaporation, has climate change at its heart.
Opened last week as part of the global festival on climate change, ARTCOP21, Evaporation features three bowls containing solutions of salt and blue ink, which evaporate over time. This leaves behind a crust of salt crystals in concentric rings, mimicking the tides of the Earth: every time someone sees it, the ‘waves’ will have changed. Featured alongside this work is All the Sea, featuring glass bottles of water collected from the Earth’s 200+ seas by a global network of people determined to have these water sources collected in one place.
The project is the second to be facilitated by the ecologically-minded arts association Cape Farewell’s Lovelock Art Commissions. The titular James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis posited that the world is an interconnected super-organism, and the state of the oceans a way of ascertaining the health of this system. Evaporation’s dried waves become all the more haunting in the face of rising sea temperatures, making the work a salient reflection of the possible fate of the planet’s oceans. Given the forthcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December, Kovats' sensitive and engaging work will, hopefully, help to spur a little more action in the fight against one of our generation's most significant – and divisive – global bugbears.
INFORMATION
Evaporation is on view until 15 May 2016
ADDRESS
Museum of Science and Industry
Liverpool Road
Castlefield
Manchester, M3 4FP
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Audemars Piguet and Kaws have created the Royal Oak Concept watch we didn't know we needed
The Audemars Piguet x Kaws Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Companion' is slick wrist-worn art
By Thor Svaboe Published
-
A friendly rivalry coloured by kinship: Wendy Maruyama and Tom Loeser on their two-artist show
'I wanted to make furniture, just not traditional furniture, but weird furniture,' says Wendy Maruyama on ‘Colorama’, a two-artist show presented at design gallery Superhouse (until 11 January 2025)
By Gregory Han Published
-
Tranquil and secluded, Lemaire’s new Tokyo flagship exudes a sense of home
In Tokyo’s Ebisu neighbourhood, Lemaire’s tranquil new store sees the French brand take over a former 1960s home. Co-artistic directors Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran tell Wallpaper* more
By Joanna Kawecki Published