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Plastic Tide
There is only two main roads on the island which both follow the coast and meet up at the tip of the island where the Terevake volcano and ancient workshop for the well known 887 Moai sculptures marks the dead end. Yesterday I did one part towards the North, today I drive the other way. [...]
The Belly-Button of the World
Nothing could have prepared me for the hard contrast between the utter beauty of the natural treasures topped with ancient cultural remains and the presence of large scale pollution, both on land and in the water, as I was about to witness on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). We circle around for [...]
An Avalanche of Garbage
Driving up the coast towards Mirasol on my way back to Santiago, I pass Quebrada Verde. A chaotic spaghetti of dirt roads which are accessible only by a 4×4 leads me through Eucalyptus forests and a few Una Bomber like cottages. After tree hours of being smacked against all sides of [...]
Coastal Cleanup
The next stop is at the other side of South America in Vina Del Mar, Chile. I meet up with Michelle Manley, marine biologist at DIRECTEMAR and the local coordinator of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Over the past 25 years Ocean Conservancy has initiated and coordinated beach cleanings worldwide and recently brought out [...]
Uruguay Natural!
Early in the morning we decide to drive to La Paloma, a three hour marathon in a virgin rental Chevy (we tripled the amount of KM on the counter) through pouring rain. Just as I’m getting discouraged by the prospect of having to pick plastic trash from the beach in the rain without raincoat, the [...]
Persistant Pollutants on Plastic Pellets
The weather prediction is bad for Tuesday with fierce winds so we change our plan and try to rent a boat today to go to the close by Isla de Gorriti. It is located in front of Punta Del Este, a beach town and resort in the process of getting ready for mass tourism coming [...]
Beach Bashing
After 33 hours of traveling I arrive in the hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay for the start of the next plastic picking party. As I’m checking in, Manuel arrives in the lobby. He is a fellow ‘Sea Dragon’ compadre and will be my guide an friend for the coming days for which I will be forever [...]
Verbeke Foundation
Exhibition in the main hall from 07/03/2011 – 20/11/2011
Geert and Carla Verbeke-Lens started collecting art in the early 1990’s. Their interest was initially drawn by abstract painting. Later the focus of the collection shifted to collages and assemblages of mainly Belgian artists. In recent years the collection was further expanded to current art and bio [...]
Tracks, Traces and Transformations
NEST, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Open: 10/10/2010 – 21/11/2010
Thursday – Sunday from 1 to 5 pm.
A project on art directly related to movement. Constantly changing perspectives are transformed by the artists into collections and narratives, reduced to one sentence or melted into a single image. With works by Patrick Corillon, Christoph Fink, Maarten [...]
Easter Island Tragedies
Another thing I keep finding on the island besides plastic trash and natural beauty are dead horses. I see at least 10 carcasses in three days and no one seems to care or take them away. The living horses which are everywhere on the island and are walking around freely in different naturally formed hordes, don’t seem to mind either and are grazing just a few inches away of a skull that might have been a relative. I have no idea how hey died but the last and one I saw had a plastic rope around its ankle. No strings attached huh? Look at his front left foot…
On my way back to the other side I pass a remarkable mixture of histories and religions. It seems weird that the Rapa Nui still allow this abomination to exist. The European missionaries brought Catholicism, ok, but that was a long time ago (1864). Why keep this remnant of the raping of their cultural heritage?
When I’m almost back in town I pass the garbage recycling center. Although recycling is a big word; most of the trash is just dumped in a huge empty pit. Compared to the plastic on the beaches, which is mostly coming from the ocean, this is land based trash. Is there really no better way to handle it? I feel sick again and understand perfectly why most of the Moai are laying flat on their face and stay like that, so they don’t need to see what has happened to their island.