
2021
Shape of Plastic 塑形
The ocean covers 360 million km2 of the world’s land. Everything in the universe constantly moves, allowing humans to appreciate the beautiful sea and enjoy its abundant resource endowments. As the Anthropocene concept proposed by Paul Crutzen becomes more popular, the public realizes that the impact of human activities on the earth is sufficient to create a new geological era. With the advent of humans, the ocean ecology has become more fragile and imbalanced. Floating artificial garbage, ocean creatures that mistakenly swallowed plastic bottles… diverse images trigger artists to examine the development concepts that have been centered on humans since antiquity.
Jiayu Liu processed 5,000 plastic bottles collected by runners at the Running for a Blue Ocean, an activity held by Adidas, and piled them up into sculptures of rolling sea waves. Considering that particles are the minor material components of a free state, Jiayu Liu rendered them into a dynamic ocean image and projected it onto these sculptures’ surfaces.
Viewers can appreciate an astounding ocean space when standing in front of the work. However, viewers may find the ocean garbage hiding at their beautiful backs after their perspectives shuttle between sculptures. From reality into concepts and from waste to aesthetical objects, Jiayu Liu presented the comparison and translation of textures visually and conceptually, providing viewers with a new thinking perspective. As the artist’s meaningful response to the human world, this work helps viewers to reexamine the relations between humans and oceans on the one hand and relations between humans and nature on the other hand.




Credits
Project by Liu Jiayu
Project Management:
Kristy
Project Producer:
Wang Xiangyu
3D Model:
Le Long
Particle Rendering:
Xue Yan Graphic
Composition:
Fang Xin
Projection Design:
Xie Jiaban
Sculpture production:
Beijing Wittesen Construction Engineering Co., Ltd.
Equipment provided:
Feiliyang Beijing Film and Television Culture Development Co., Ltd.