These Vases Are Made From The Radioactive Waste of Old Electronics
The vases are part of a project called “Rare Earthenware,” documented by photographer Toby Smith. (Via Toby Smith)
You’ve probably bought an embarrassing number of gadgets in your lifetime, but seldom wondered how their many intricate parts were made.
Now, a London-based design studio is shining a light on that process, crafting three vases from the toxic waste that was generated during the production of consumer electronics like laptops and smartphones.
As Dezeen magazine reports, the project — headed by Kate Davies, Liam Young, and ceramicist Kevin Callaghan — followed the supply chain back to Baotou, a city in northern China. There, they discovered an “ocean of black mud” formed from the liquids that ran off from a metal refinery that made electronic parts.
(Via YouTube)
When the team took a sample of the mud back to the lab, they discovered that it was three times the normal level of background radiation. So, they packed it in a secure shipping container and brought it back to London. Once they returned, Callagan threw three vases in the style of Tongping pottery, an aesthetic prevalent during China’s Ming Dynasty.
The artists say they wanted to show the changing concept of luxury over time.
“Vast areas of the world have been remade in the service of our shining, gleaming, digital futures, and our toxic vases are an attempt to make these hidden relationships more visible,” Young told Dezeen. “Our tech gadgets are sold to us through qualities like lightness and thinness and terms like ‘the cloud’, or ‘Macbook Air’, but in fact they are actually geological artifacts.”
This is not the first time artists have attempted to bring attention to the damaging factory operations behind America’s thriving tech companies. Last year, for example, activists translated a Foxconn factory worker’s poetry after he committed suicide. Foxconn is the manufacturer responsible for assembling Apple’s iPhones.
Check out all the info on the project over at Dezeen, and photographer Toby Smith’s fantastic photos of the trip.
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