Image: Andy Hughes
Penzance’s iconic Jubilee Pool was brought to life in a whole new way over the weekend. A one-off screening of ‘Being Plastic’ – a contemporary art film by Cornwall-based artist Andy Hughes – was projected straight onto the art deco pool.
Held in conjunction with Plastic Free Penzance, this projection explored the surreal intersection of marine life, human industry, and the plastic crisis. How can we look at plastic in a different way? And how can that help us tackle the rising tide of plastic pollution?
With almost 100 people on the night (and absolutely perfect conditions – no wind, no rain and starry skies!), we couldn’t have asked for a better evening for it.
Rachel Yates, from Plastic Free Penzance, says: “It was a bit of a leap of faith. We didn’t know how it was going to work, because no-one has ever done it before. So, in itself it was a work of live performance art. Nobody really knew what was going to happen when the film was projected, and whether it would work projected on the water or on the walls … or neither! In the end, it was a stunning result.”
The film itself is a mesmerising video loop, born from Hughes’ residency on Gapado Island, South Korea. Inspired by the eerie, high-intensity glow of offshore squid-fishing boats, Hughes captures how these artificial lights “reverse” the natural world. Tricking the sea into reflecting light, from its depths. He then re-imagined this world through the eyes of the cephalopod, the inside of a plastic beer bottle, and a molten sunset seen through a special edition Ecover Bio-mimicry Ocean Plastic Bottle. All culminating in the ‘living’ video, ‘Being Plastic’.
The projection was preceded by a talk by Rachel, who gave a brief history of Plastic Free Penzance, our work around plastic pollution locally and how it taps into national and global system change that we need to see. Including our approach to tackling plastic locally, through positive action and creative campaigning.
Andy then did a talk around his own work, how the film came about and how he was viewing plastic pollution, as well as the incredible soundtrack on the film (with includes sounds of the sun and a deep sea underwater sound called the ‘Bloop’ – recorded by NASA) followed by an initial indoor screening of the film before the main projection.
Images: Andy Hughes & Rachel Yates
Community art and action
The event was part of our three-month residency at the Jubilee Pool, which started back in January. We collaborated with Andy on a series of workshops with the public to raise awareness of plastic pollution and explore creative responses to it.
Attendees worked with Andy to create their own photographic pieces of art, looking at items of plastic pollution, their colour and texture. They then took photos to create pieces of art which went into our ‘Transparent Tide’ exhibition (currently up at Jubilee Pool Café).
Alongside this, we hung works by Captain Banplastic, the anti-plastics superhero working alongside schools to raise awareness, with kids having the chance to make their own superhero masks as part of the series of events.
Andy also placed two of his own resin sphere artworks outside the pool that people could interact with (and take their own photos through) during the exhibition, too.
Image: Andy Hughes
And if you haven’t had a chance to see any of it yet…
Before our residency finishes at the end of April, we’re hosting one last workshop on 11th April, where we’ll explore how to be plastic-free in Penzance. It’s totally free to attend, and is an interactive session all about helping our community be part of the solution to the plastic crisis, and what it really means to be ‘plastic-free’.
And finally…
A huge thank you to every person who donated their time and energy to make the event happen; including Andy, the projection team and the sound company. Ticket sales went solely towards covering tech costs and the hire of the pool. A total community effort, with community benefit!
