Awareness: "100%純污水製冰所"

"Polluted Water Popsicles"

Artists Hung I-chen, Guo Yi-hui, and Cheng Yu-ti formed the group 100%純污水製冰所, after their first work, "Polluted Water Popsicles" achieved so much success. They come from the National Taiwan University of the Arts, and they were nominated for the Young Pin Design Award for their popsicles.  They have not had a lot of gallery representation outside of places like the New Generation of Design Exhibition two years ago at the Taipei World Trade Center in Hong Kong, but I think that over time they will most likely accumulate more work that can be displayed. However, I know that this is political art that speaks a message that is more important than the physical piece, and that this cannot always be expected to be fit in a museum setting.
 Past works include the following------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​100%純污水製冰所xGreenpeace Hong Kong:
This collaboration sent wrapped soaps to Chinese legislative council members with 10 different scents based off of 10 different beaches in Hong Kong that also contained pollution found in water in the respective area. The group's intent was to remind the council members how big of an issue water pollution really is. The soap came with a letter asking the politicians to take action, and the creation of the soaps were also part of a city-wide engagement event.
Marine Debris Guidebook:
This book contains photos of hundreds of pieces debris collected from beaches in China, and is another call to action, but to the younger audience, in order to make trash collection more of a scavenger or treasure hunt.
The group has also had other collaborations in order to spread the prevalence of the ocean pollution issue, including phone card holders and toys.
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This group's works reminded me of what we have been learning about social practice art, and makes me think about the public engagement aspect of projects. Although I did not have an immediate message related to a global issue, I did want to incorporate my audience into one of my works through photo, and am inspired to actually do so some point next year. Overall however, this project (along with those they have been working with since then) appealed to me in craft, content and subject matter. I hope to be able to have a similar effect with my work, which I also hope to refine to this point.
Also, as most of the information on this group is in Chinese and they are very contemporary, it was difficult to find their career path, but I think something similar will and has happened with my art, which comes out of the blue and develops its content from there. I really liked their use of found objects, a medium I share, and I think I will look towards doing casting or suspended resin for one of my next projects from this inspiration.

More info can be found on their facebook page
@pollutedwaterpopsicles
or by clicking below: