Cloud - Window on the World

Studio Orta - 6016.jpg

Date: 2011
Ref: 6016
Materials: Window frame, glass, recycled water bottles, resin, epoxy paint
Dimensions: 125 x 134 x 50cm
Catalogued: Clouds | Nuages, Damiani Editore Milan 2012
Exhibition history: 2011 La Maréchalerie - centre d'art contemporain Versailles
Courtesy: Private Collection, France

Lucy + Jorge Orta began experimenting sculptural methods to recycle water bottles after visiting the Zabbaleen community, Cairo’s informal garbage collectors who make their living recycling the city’s waste (2009). “Clouds” references not only the physical resemblance to clouds but also the natural water cycle, which is increasingly affected by climate change and pollution. The artists’ research draws a correlation between the lack of water in the world and its privatization and reflects on this paradox in relation to parallel economies and communities that survive on plastic waste, such as the Zabbaleen. “Clouds” also remind us of the islands of plastic that are polluting oceans and destroying marine life. At the same time the cloud is a mega-thermodynamic machine, recycling and distributing water on our planet.