Aleksi Jaakkola

           No Man's Land...

Installation by found objects at Kyläsaaren ranta (Hermannin rantapuisto).

The concept was to highlight the fact that the human made waste could easily be found from less controlled and regulated areas and display them in a way that they are easily seen and that they would be visually interesting.

Origin of the concept:

During this course I visited several sites of urban foraging, parks, Nuuksio (Noux) national park and Kyläsaaren ranta. Both areas are uncultivated and let to be in their “natural” state, but there is a huge contrast between the two. In Nuuksio national park were absolutely no visible rubbish found , but in Kyläsaaren ranta, it was quite the contrary, there was all kinds of waste laying around. In the national park people respect the area and oblige to the rule of leaving no waste behind, where as in Kyläsaaren ranta some people take advantage of its remote location and lack of surveillance and dispose of waste in the area.

Construction and interaction:

To bring up awareness of found objects at the location in Kyläsaaren ranta, I built up an installation with found plastic bags, close by of a common pathway which passes through the area. During the construction of my piece many passersby asked what I was doing and why. One lady thought that I was conducting a biological study on butterflies.

Through the interactions with the public, I was able to find a background information about the material that I was using: a man, shirtless with a german shepherd, told me that a few weeks back there had been a music festival nearby, where a container was filled with bags containing bottles and cans from sold beverages. During the night the container was burgled. To be able to hide the origin of the bottles, they were taken out of the specially marked bags, that were then left behind. He added that in the container there were more or less 40 bags of bottles. These plastic bags I used for the installation.

Presentation:

During the group presentation of the installation, the tunes of the very relevant song by Angus Brel 'OhPlastic Bag' which insinuates the essence of the piece. Thanks to Charlie to find this song and Hanna to play it to us.

Details:

Title: No Man's Land... / installation
Material: plastic bags, resolvable paper cord, dead tree
Year: 2013

Video extra:

No Man's Land with Oh Plastic Bag from Aleksi Jaakkola on Vimeo.