This piece is a visualisation of the wave data heights recorded by a weather mark located by the great Pacific Garbage Patch, just north of Hawaii. The evocative installation uses movement, visuals and sound to create a sublime experience that draws attention to the volume of plastic accumulating in the ocean.
Forever inspired by the sea, the artist is mesmerised by the movement of the water and saddened by its current condition. People do not take time out of their day to realise the immense crisis our planet is facing regarding plastic pollution. Message in a Bottle visualises a dataset of real waves from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.The immersive installation uses computational methods and physical computing components to create a sublime experience. The sound track that accompanies the piece is a recording made by the artist of plastic bottles colliding off one another underwater.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have a data buoy centre that have weather stations world wide. I researched the different stations nearest the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and discovered station 46246, (50°1'2" N 145°10'12" W). The NOAA has historical data for this station going back to 2010, the data is logged every 30 minutes and includes information on the wind speed, sea temperature, wave heights and the period between waves.
***Dimensions adjustable.
