Created by artist Ernest Goh (Ayer Ayer Project), the Shore Debris Table series serves up ocean microplastics for ‘consumption’. This first iteration comes in the form of an 8 metre long table, mimicking the coastline of Punggol Beach from which the debris was originally collected. The artist invites guests to participate in the artwork by joining him in the impossible task of removing microplastic fragments one piece at a time. This participatory artwork seeks to bring the issue of massive plastic pollution right to the dinner table where studies have shown microplastics are entering our food chain through the food we eat and the water we drink. Steel tweezers are provided for visitors to participate in silence.
In response to the Shore Debris Table Punggol, artist Kei Franklin from Brack, invites visitors to partake in frank conversation over a simple meal on the Shore Debris Table. Matter-of-Food is a frank conversation about the state of things. Each day we are inundated with images of polluted waters, melting ice-caps, and mountains of plastic waste. But for many of us, these issues feel abstract, overwhelming, or irrelevant to our daily lives. In Matter-of-Food, the audience is invited to commune over a candid conversation and a simple meal. As we share our own snippets and stories, we endeavour to deepen our collective understanding of how consumption patterns, transnational waste management systems, and our current climate crisis relate back to the food on our plates.
Ayer Ayer Project plants the oceanic flag in the form of the Shore Debris Table Malaya in Penang. The journey is a collaboration with Johor creative Sam Wong and indigo dyeing by Ireen Tan and programme partner Brack, presented in partnership with Lunabarcoffee and Chai Diam Ma Party Lorong in the streets of Penang.
Ubah Rumah is an art residency and archive inspired by stories of our region.
