Honorary Mention Interactive Art+
Unknown Fields (UK/AU)
Three ceramic Ming-style vessels crafted from toxic mud from a barely liquid lake in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, continually pumped with tailings from rare earth refining process, stand for the amount of waste created in the production of three items of technology—a smartphone, a featherweight laptop, and the cell of a smart car battery. They serve as witnesses to our participation in and interaction with this vicious circle of consumerism and exploitation and reminding us of the disturbing consequences of our consumerist habits, leading to a toxic future. These three Rare Earthenware vessels are the physical embodiment of a contemporary global supply network that displaces earth and weaves matter across the planet. They are presented as objects of desire, but their elevated radiation levels and toxicity make them objects we would not want to possess. They represent the undesirable consequences of our material desires.
