In collaboration with Arts Catalyst, HeHe turned FACT Liverpool’s main gallery into an industrial landscape in a playful and provocative commentary on crises of global economy, threats of environmental catastrophe and struggles of public institutions in times of austerity.
The Prix Ars Electronica award-winners warn that drilling could result in unquantifiable subterranean noise as tectonic plates shift, minor ground tremors are a possibility, and diluted chemicals used during the fracking process will be sprayed into the air as they mischievously turned the gallery into a temporary, experimental drilling site for hydraulic fracturing on a micro scale.
HeHe use a language based on light, sound and image, their practice explores the relationship between the individual and their architectural, social and urban environment, often creating playful miniature representations of vehicles or intervening directly with light projections and large-scale visual interruptions. They make a provocative commentary on crises of global economy, threats of environmental catastrophes and struggles of public institutions in times of austerity.
They hope this multi-sensory installation will highlight the importance and current relevance of the debates surrounding the fracking process, which are not only significant environmentally, but also economically. The installation will refrain from making judgements for or against fracking, rather offering a platform on which discussion can begin.
Fracking Futures not only illustrates the potential dangers and disruptions of the process, but also considers fracking as an alternative source of energy and subsequent potential for commerce and growth. Whether this last point is genuine or tongue-in-cheek is for the visitor to decide….
Part of FACT’s 10th anniversary exhibition Turning FACT Inside Out programme, 2013.
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