ARTIST STATEMENT

Who was to know that a simple ice core exhibit on display at TMAG and a flash of inspiration would lead us down a rabbit hole of information trying marry images with a set of mind blowing numbers and statistics. In the same way that no one really knew what was going to happen when they invented plastic to save animals from ivory hunters. Life has a funny way of starting small and slow and then growing very, very big, very, very quickly.
 

Nothing illustrates this more beautifully than the 24 graphs created by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) known as the ‘Great Acceleration’. A term first published in the IGBP synthesis, Global Change and Earth System, 2004. This set of 24 indicators track human activity from 1750 to 2000 and highlight the exponential growth that has occurred throughout the world as a result of human activity. These graphs provided us with a way to frame the artwork and were the inspiration for it’s title and sentiment. We simplified the categories down to ten main sectors for the purpose of this project, largely to suit the format of the Cube screens and to keep the topics simple and accessible for people of all ages and from all walks of life.
 

Our goal was to create a work that captured the frenetic nature of modern society. We live in a world driven by technology and consumerism, where we are bombarded daily by thousands of images and messages all competing for our attention. For this reason we thought it fitting to co-opt the visual language of consumerism and subvert it. We have done this by responding creatively to a set of statistics and data that clearly illustrate the devastating effects of an industrialised world driven by capitalism and unsustainable growth.