Windschatten was built as a visual metaphor for cycles of consumption in the quaint village of Kalga, Himachal Pradesh as a part of an artist residency. Determined to create a sound installation using local materials, I decided that one of the most abundant local materials was the plastic in bottles that are used and quickly disposed of by consumers. It transforms concerns for sustainability and the environment into an architectural metaphor for cycles of consumption and waste. The kinetic installation used plastic bottles designated as waste to construct a large, organically shaped arch. The sculpture is activated by the intensity and direction of the ambient wind conditions to generate its sonic response. The bottles catch the wind in different directions and intensities to generate the sound of the winds. The openings within the bottles act as a funnel through which air columns vibrate and generate sonic responses. The sound generated by the installation is an eerie drone, which is quiet a contrast to the pleasant soundscape prevalent in the village. The project proudly displays its modest materials, leaving the plastic bottles uncovered and unpainted. Yet the unremarkable building blocks combine to create something that is almost unrecognizable and completely extraordinary.

 

 

The sculptural form was conceived as a symbol of the landscape that provides the materials for the plastic bottles and which is made to suffer as a result of our wasteful modes of production and consumption. This project was composed of the number of bottles thrown away in Kalga every day. Through the building process of the installation the artist ended cleaning up the entire village of its plastic refuse. The kinetic installation transformed this abundant waste into a space for contemplation and imagination. The structure not only references the natural processes that are disrupted by waste and pollution or the water-carrying capacity of the bottles that are thrown away — it also suggests the possibilities for modes of production that are sustainable and regenerative. The installation utilized the local community’s waste while rallying the community to contribute, build and enjoy the structure. Rather than representing a landscape or forces of nature, windschatten evokes — in an abstracted form — the waste that it is made from. Hanging precariously over the edge of a mountain in an apple orchard, windschatten could have been another piece of plastic debris about to litter the river just below. Yet instead the installation suggests a different, more beautiful afterlife for consumer by-products.