Bottled Ocean 2122 by George Nuku Shows in Vienna

New Zealand artist George Nuku (Ngāti Kahungunu and Tūwharetoa) has presented his latest work, dubbed Bottled Ocean 2122, as an installation that imagines the state of the world’s oceans 100 years in the future where plastics have totally changed the marine environment. The work is being exhibited at the Theseus Temple in Vienna’s Volksgarten in Austria. Martin Barillas reports for Dutch wire service, Zenger News, in a piece published by Newsweek.

Nuku’s project is running concurrently with the rest of his exhibition, Oceans. Collections. Reflections, at the Weltmuseum in Vienna until 9 October 2022.

Nuku was joined by 170 volunteers to create Bottled Ocean 2122 over the last three months, envisioning it as means to raise public consciousness about the use of plastics and how they end up in the marine environment.

He said: “Through my Māori heritage, I seek to reshape our relationship with our environment. Ultimately, pollution itself is sacred, like everything in our world … It’s not too late to change our relationship with our environment and move closer to the plastic that permeates every aspect of our lives today.”

Original article by Martin Barillas, Zenger News, Newsweek, June 24, 2022.