A Virtual Reality Experience
as part of The Substation’s Associate Artist Programme 2020/21
“Welcome to the world of the Shore Seekers.
In a world where uncertainties are as sure as recurring tides,
and unknowns lurk in plain sight
We invite you to come look, search and comprehend,
because to pick up the pieces is to understand.”
Created by ecologically-engaged art collective Ayer Ayer Project, ShoreSeekers.World is an online 360 VR artwork that shares the experience of traversing the world of shore debris trash. ShoreSeekers.World is a digital extension of the Shore Debris Table artwork created by Ayer Ayer Project in 2019.
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
ShoreSeekers is an opportunity to consider our relationship with plastics. Players, in assuming the role of debris collectors working their way across the Johor Straits, are prompted to develop a deeper understanding of the plastic pollution crisis, in its complexities and contradictions. Can we truly think of ourselves as detached from nature, at a time where microplastics have found their way into the air, our food and even our bodies? How do we make sense of the various scales at play – time, space and our sense of agency?
Shoreseekers also draws upon the histories embedded in our coastlines. The Orange Laut, sea-faring indigenous peoples who first settled in the area, are deeply intertwined with that of the sea. Their understanding of the marine world is layered with their beliefs and culture – this site was first recorded by their ancestors; the next spot is excellent for fishing; that area over there is inhabited by spirits, and should be crossed carefully.
The Johor Straits are thus reframed as a site of (re)discovery, rather than an environment that needs to be transformed and wrestled into obedience.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ernest Goh is the founder of Ayer Ayer, an ecologically-engaged art project that reaches out to communities through visual, experiential and participatory artworks in art and science. In 2019, Ernest looked at the complications of ocean plastic pollution in Singapore. Ernest’s work has been commissioned by and installed at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in Singapore, collected by the Multimedia Art Museum Moscow, and also resides in corporate, public and private collections.
Click here for Artist’s Website