AQUARIUM 2.0

These objects are considered trash, if you consider things on the ground as trash, if you consider broken things as trash. When nobody is taken responsibility of the object anymore, is it trash?

All the objects in the windowsill are collected over the years, I found them on the streets, at the sea or in the soil. They have in common that you can still see the previous usage, as an utensil or as a material. Because they can't be used for what they made for I suddenly see the more artistic value of the material, in texture, transparentness, layered information, this brings up the inner magpie in me. They also have in common that they are all man-made debris. On the state of falling apart. The beauty for me in these objects is that they are in limbo between the previous use and becoming micro waste. There is one exception with these objects, number 13.

1. Polymer. Leftovers of wrong printed 3d print found at atelier Droom& Vreesmann. Groningen, the Netherlands.

2. Acrylic polymer emulsion. Dried acrylic paint. Found at atelier Droom& Vreesmann. Groningen, the Netherlands.

3. Plastic. Figurine of a bear. Found while making a geveltuintje (facade garden). This piece was found together with pieces of bricks and a piece of a blue tile, similarly fo the types of the surrounded houses, this made me speculate that the piece of plastic dates back to building phase of the neighbourhood, which was around 1935. Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

4. Transparent glass, with a thin reflective layer on the back, backed by a coating that protects that layer against abrasion, tarnishing, and corrosion. Mirror. Found during a hike. Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

5. Polycarbonate plastic, metal layer. Piece of a DVD. Found during a walk. Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

6. Clay, glazing. Ceramic pieces, a little plastic palm tree thingy + one piece that looks like a broken piece of a ceramic tile but is some strange plastic foam type. (Guess which one! E-mail me at info@floorvanmeeuwen.com with a picture, you can win a prize.) Found in the soil of Todoroki Ravin park. Tokyo, Japan.

7. Wax. Smells like paraffin wax. Paraffin is derived from petroleum, coal or oil shale*. Found at the shore of Kamakura beach, a surfers spot. My brother told me that to surf you need to wax your board regularly, which means that all the wax ends up in the sea. The wax I found doesn't look like surfers wax, but how did it end up at the beach? Tokyo, Japan.

8. Plastic. Two neon coloured pieces. One is still identifiable as a piece of an ice cream spoon, the other one is unknown to me. Tredozio, Italy.

9. Cobalt oxide, glass. Sanded blue glass. Found at the beach of the North Sea, The Netherlands.

10. Plastic-coated paper. A tiny playing card. Found on the street. This piece is on itself useless. Only in a deck of cards it has worth. Somewhere in The Netherlands.

11. Layers of spray paint. Showing a fragment of the history of a wall of fame. Found on the street. Hannover, Germany.

12. Coloured plaster. Found in the corner of the atelier of Joost. Bierum, the Netherlands.

13. Styrofoam + phosphorescence paint. This object was part of an artwork at the exhibition of Daan Roosegaarde, it was not found but rather stolen. This artist is known as an maker of inventions around smog and other works addressing pollution. This specific artwork with a lot of styrofoam balls caused problems because visitors accidentally took the plastic particles with them due to the statically of this material on clothing. A lot of pieces ended up outside the museum. Groningen, The Netherlands.

14. Layers of coloured latex (plastic). Found them in an old paint paint tray at the atelier of Koen. Groningen, The Netherlands.

15. Clay, glazing. Ceramic pieces found at the shore on a holiday. Interesting is the similarity in the blue lines. The blue lines must be a tradition in this region. Denmark.

16. Tinplate(=steel covered in tin)? Aluminium? Or Lacquered steel plate?** Can flap. Tredozio, Italy.

17. Little pieces of Alpi Wood. Leftovers from sculptures made of the leftovers of other sculptures made of leftovers of Alpi Wood that was donated to the residency Habitat. Tredozio, Italy.

18. Glass. Piece of glass found in the soil. If you look close and with the right angle of light you can spot a lot of coloured spots. This happens when glass is for a longer period of time covered in soil. The iridescent layer can grow with certain acidic liquid and certain ground types, plus some glass types are made of materials that are more likely to react with certain ground conditions.***

19. Polystyrene. 6 bread clips. They are all different! Are they designed by 6 different product designers? 6 different factories? One from Lidl bread, the rest found in the streets of The Netherlands.