Title:
SUBMERGE

Author:
Alex Côté

Description:
SUBMERGE ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "A meditative experience into water, propels the audience in an introspection of humanity." ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pure or Plastic? Did the water sources on Earth changed because of our plastic weapons? Are we already aimless droids, drowning in a exploitative lifestyle plaguing our own future? Can we free ourselves carelessly from our plastic armors and swim back to the light? Will we reconnect with our organic consciousness? Our Blue Planet? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Humanity is embarking in a new millenium as the focus of our society’s priorities keeps on shifting. The human being is in a radical ontological evolution, as we see globalization, technology and information quickly rising to the top of our concerns while other elements, such as spirituality and environment are pushed aside. The Anthropocene era on Earth has arisen and a critical ecologic crisis is happening where the ethical and biological boundaries have been overpassed. Today, the urgent situation of water pollution compels remarkable changes from humans all over the world. In a context where half of the world’s most important water sources are being seriously polluted, I am presenting to the public with The Universal Sea two humanoids characters layered of gold and silver plastic that try to resolve this question: Pure or Plastic? I am grateful to dedicate the creation of the photographic series and short-film SUBMERGE into this historical yet crucial mandate of uniting a global network of humans around their principal cause, the planet Earth. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THREE ACTIONS ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ First, with the collaboration of the Universal Sea (scientists from the EUCC for instance), I would locate different areas that have been polluted by plastic in Venice. Then, I would lead a group collect of the plastic pollutants that found their way into the water with the assistance of the organized event’s attendees and the spontaneous help of the Venetian community. This action would be strengthened by the online community who would assist this collective investigation by live video and social media presence. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Secondly, I would recycle the recovered plastic in my installation and performance Plastic.Organic serving as metaphors of the large-scale planetary perturbations caused by unsustainable human desire. The plastic pollutants collected in Venice would be installed on some thin plastic walls to break the enchantment of the organic and idyllic nature, displayed by video projection. Oscillating between lightness and gravity, meditation and suffocation, humanity and deity, an installation made of these giant plastic walls would be configured to surround the audience in the exhibition space. The plastic would therefore be maneuvered to symbolise the sacred relation between people and nature. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Finally, with my experience and knowledge of public spaces and site-specific performances, I would organize and direct multiple collective performances with groups of local and international artists in crowded spaces with waterscape in the cities of Venice, Las Palmas and Helsinki. Helped by my personal network of artists, performers and teachers, these performances would showcase a series of improvised daily actions that demonstrate the plastic consumption and its many repercussions. Hence leading us to the question: Pure or Plastic? This action aims to surprise the local community by enlightening those who might be not aware of the plastic waste’s consequences and, therefore, engage resilience, memory and future preventive actions in order to protect what’s left of the water. According to my schedule and the availability of my collaborators, these actions could happen in Porto, Vienna and Berlin as well. These three actions would be covered by live video on social media platforms to enhance the positive consequences of the actions with the virtual community, who will be able to watch, comment, like and share, mobilizing more people and changing minds one by one.