SOMETHING STRANGE (2004)
Sculptural work, within group show of staff from CSM, made as a homage to local resident ‘Bottle Eric’ and his recycling efforts
Thirteen faculty from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design were invited to make a group exhibition for the Aine Art Museum in Tornio in Finland, near the Arctic Circle. I made a reconnaissance trip to Tornio in August 2003 and returned to make work for the exhibition in February 2004. On my August visit I noticed many elderly people trundling around the town centre on mobility aids which they called rollaattori. I spotted one of these rollaattori, parked outside the supermarket, covered entirely in bulging plastic shopping bags, like some extraordinary bulbous vehicle. I discovered that this vehicle belonged to someone called Pullo Erkki (Bottle Eric) and the bags were filled with material, which he regularly collected for recycling.
I thought of Pullo Erkki as the eco-warrior, clearing debris from the edge of the Arctic Circle and decided to make a work in tribute to him. I obtained my own rollaattori and solicited plastic shopping bags for every retail outlet in Tornio, which I packed with local newspapers in order to build my own sculptural version of Bottle Eric's chariot, which was my site specific sculptural response to Tornio.
with Pullo Erkki