Ocean Rise, 2023-2024
Commissioned by: Oslo City Art Collection
Curated by: Helga-Marie Nordby
Soundscape: Mowgli TV in collaboration with the public
Medium: Oceanize recycled marine plastic panels created by Wecycle, stainless steel structure and soundscape accessed via a QR code.
Dimensions: 2.3m(h) x 4.2m(w) x 80m(d)
Ocean Rise is a mixed reality sculpture that highlights the rise in sea levels due to global warming. The shape of the artwork emulates a wave and creates a connection between the physical and the digital, the city and the ocean. It asks the viewer to contemplate their role in the current climate crisis and its impact on future generations.
Accompanying the work is a bespoke soundscape accessed via a QR code (listen above). In spring 2023 Aphra Shemza and Mowgli TV held a workshop for local children at the Norwegian Sculptors Society. While making recycled plastic jellyfish and an underwater light installation, the young people were recorded talking about climate change and their hopes for the future. Mowgli TV used his modular synthesizer to create the final soundscape by combining the children’s voices with local field recordings of the fjord and nature.
Collaborating with Aphra Shemza, Wecycle, an Oslo based non-profit organisation, created the plastic panels from recycled marine plastic supplied by Oceanize. Ocean Rise is an example of best practice for sustainable public art. By partnering with local organisations and the public, the work is not only created for local people but also in collaboration with them.
With special thanks to Helga-Marie Nordby, Marianne Hall, Rob Searle-Barnes, Norsk Billedhoggerforening, Grundfeldt AS, Hans-Eliam Raknerud and our workshop participants and their parents for their contribution to the project: Ava Weider-Hagemann, Hugo Nilsen Zamecznik, Leo Darrough, Liv Darrough, Mari Nordby-Willberg, Olav Garbias Paasloe and Rikoll N.Øvrelid.
Image: Aphra Shemza & workshop participants.
Image: Workshop participants and jellyfish light installation.
