Over Flow

The theme for this exhibition couldn't be more timely and current. Tadashi Kawamata’s solo exhibition Over Flow at MAAT’s Oval Gallery is focussed around the global ecology and tourism.

It is an immersive installation where the visitor is invited to experience a seascape of remains which follows an ecological catastrophe, where debris transported by the world’s seas are imagined to engulf civilisation.

The Japanese artist, who is known worldwide for his large-scale sustainable architectural environments, developed this project during one year of research and fieldwork in Portugal, culminating in a workshop with artists and architects led by architectural collective Os Espacialistas. The large-scale commission at MAAT integrates both plastic waste and abandoned boats collected on Portugal’s shores during beach cleaning campaigns by volunteer organisation Brigada do Mar, Almada City Hall and the Fishing Port of Nazaré.

These elements put together in a sculptural form that resonates the polluting elements aggregated by the perpetual movements of the ocean, as well as a global tourism and its fatal consumption of natural resources.