Can you grow salad on floating pontoons made out of salvaged junk from the river Taff?
This is the question local artist Jo Hartwig is exploring, and she got in touch to ask us to collaborate with her to see if and how we can answer this question.
"I approached Bottega project to work with me on Arts Council Wales research project ‘Floating Revolutions’ because we have some similar values and interests in working in public and watery spaces. It was really good working with John, Rob and their team on the project, which included research trips by boat and bouncing ideas off one another, both creative and practical. I’m very process-led as an artist and they were receptive to this way of working.
The structures were designed using what the city throws away - buoyant river rubbish, discarded coffee bean sacks and shaped around what we found. The idea behind the project was that these sculptural objects can be made into something beautiful and useful, floating repurposed junk farms sat on water bodies, used for small scale farming and to start conversations on future farming in areas of the Uk vulnerable to flooding"
We took to the water in Jo's canoe, salvaged a host of floating rubbish that was then brought back to our workshop where we worked with Jo to design a build three interesting structures lined with reclaimed coffee sacks.
The completed work was displayed at Bay Arts on the 12th & 13th of January 2024.
