Artist Carolien Adriaansche builds works of art from waste. For the Children’s Biennale in the Groninger Museum she is making a large plastic city and looking for additional building blocks.
‘Blue plastic wanted’ was stated in a call on LinkedIn. What are you making?
“I pile plastic waste and use it to create a kind of city. I’ve done that before, when they were floating cities, or floating cities. This time I am making a work of art for the hall and it will be a city again. The work is intended for the Children’s Biennale of the Groninger Museum in 2024. I am making a work of blue plastic and we are looking for white plastic that visitors can build with themselves.”
Why does it necessarily have to be white or blue?
“Because there is a lot of that. I have been working with plastic waste for thirty years. There is a lot of white and black plastic and the next color that there is a lot of is blue. I don’t paint it (in fact). I really work with the waste that is there.”
How much have you collected already?
“I have about 10 cubic meters. I collect a lot myself, for example by approaching companies, and I recycle my own art. I am taking my floating blue city apart for this project. But I still need 10 cubic meters so I could use some help.”
Has it become harder or easier to find lots of plastic?
“More difficult and that is very good. Ten years ago we really threw away a lot. Nowadays a lot is reused instead of replaced. The power has really dried up at some companies. For example, I collected the blue caps that are on yellow gas pipes. Ten years ago they had a container full of those caps that I could take with me. Now they’re all going back. Another example: on the market here in The Hague, where I live, you had toothbrushes in plastic holders. I was always allowed to take those plastic holders with me. Now the toothbrushes are delivered without a holder.”
Are all types of plastic welcome?
“Preferably no foils and bags, but sturdy plastic products such as jerry cans, shampoo bottles, detergent bottles and crates. It is especially important that it is clean.”
Where should all that plastic go?
“Blue plastic can be returned to the studio of our museum until December 4,” says Fr project leader Children’s Biennale Ellis Hendriksen of the Groninger Museum. “Then we drive with a van full of plastic to The Hague where Carolien is working on her artwork.” White plastic can be returned up to and including the start of the Children’s Biennale.
Hendriksen emphasizes, just like Adriaansche, that it must be clean plastic. “So no bottles where the detergent or shampoo still flows out.”
A biennial is an exhibition or art event that is held every two years. In 2022, the Groninger Museum was the first museum in the Netherlands to organize a Children’s Biennale: an interactive art exhibition for children.
The second edition of the Children’s Biennale starts on March 9, 2024 and lasts until November 3. The theme is ‘A Better Place’ and there are ten interactive works of art on display, including two from Singapore.