SOLASTALGIA

Solastalgia is a major underwater environmental installation currently underway. During the construction of the work, workshops and demonstrations are being held to encourage community engagement and education. If you’d like to become involved in helping realise this work, we’d love to hear from you.  No prior experience is necessary, just a willingness to be a part of this important and unique work.  Please get in touch to learn more. 

The work will consist of a full scale, detailed and accurate reproduction of a Macrocystis pyrifera (Kelp) forest. Constructed from monofilament, cast components and photochromic beads. The piece will be filmed whilst submerged using 3D technology. It will ultimately be viewed in the form of an interactive fly-through new media experience. This work could be viewed online or in a gallery setting, using VR technology.

During the construction of the work, workshops and demonstrations will be held to encourage community engagement and education. All construction components are portable, and both the rope-maker and looms can be transported and operated remotely.

This environmental installation has been planned, researched and prototyped over the past five years. The final work will comprise a kelp forest of about twelve plants. These graduate from green monofilament at the base of the stands to pink at the top, This is a visual reflection of the 3 - 4 degree temperature rise recorded in the waters off Tasmania’s southeast coast. This change in water temperature has been instrumental in the disappearance of kelp around Tasmania. The beads woven into the piece are photochromic - white in the absence of ultraviolet light, and brightly coloured in strong UV. This will provide a real-time visualisation of the amount of UV penetrating the water column. The fronds are held afloat with cast polyurethane elastomer floats which have polystyrene embedded in them.