A FORMER Dundee landfill site will become home to a different kind of waste this month as an art installation constructed out of recycled materials goes on display.
The structure, designed by University of Dundee student Nadine Audrey Franz, aims to raise awareness of the urgent need for action on climate change.
The design, which comprises of two ‘apertures’, invites visitors to Dundee’s Riverside Nature Park to consider what actions they can take, such as consuming less, whilst also celebrating the beauty of nature.
The installation was designed to offer visitors the opportunity to ‘look-through’ at both nature and the city’s recycling centre.
Nadine, 23, said she hopes the structure will give locals a renewed reason to visit Riverside Nature Park – which opened to the public in 2011.
She said: “The main reason I choose to build here, is that if you stand on the hill where the structure sits, you get views of both the beautiful Tay Estuary and immediately to the left, the Riverside Recycling Centre.
“It is breathtakingly calm and also quite bleak all at the same time, so it is perfectly situated to help visitors consider the impact of consumer behaviour and how we treat waste, at least for a brief moment.”
Nadine added: “The larger of the two frames is a visual reference to the warning the United Nations recently published in which they stated that climate action must be taken within 11 years to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.”
Nadine’s structure also draws upon her own personal experiences from growing up in the Philippines where she volunteered at a day-care centre situated in the heart of an extensive landfill site in a Manila village.
Nadine said it was her experiences of seeing ordinary people live amongst the rubbish that inspired her to raise awareness with the design.
She said: “Scotland, and particularly Dundee, is blessed when it comes to landfills compared to Manila but I want this to be a reminder that when you come to visit this beautiful park, you are only one metre above thousands of tons of trash.
“I hope that designers who visit the art installation will pause to reflect on the damage consumerist culture can have on the environment if they don’t consider the long-term effects.”
Nadine’s structure will be on display to the public at Riverside Nature Park until Tuesday 28th May, when it will be deconstructed and entirely recycled.
Her structure is just one of hundreds of designs on display at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and Architecture Degree Show, which opens to the public on Saturday 18 May.
