"Subterranean Fouling"
(Polyurethane silicone and foam)
1 -25 September 2009
Subterranean fouling is a reworking of Biologically Foul, a site specific installation exhibited as part of the Victoria Harbour Young Artists Initiative at Docklands.
‘Biological Fouling’ is a term used to describe the accretion of naturally growing, aquatic organisms upon submerged human made structures. It is the cause of extensive corrosion to underwater assets and an enormous fiscal threat to marine industries.
Cooper and Tarano simulate fouling of architectural space by creating artificial mussels and barnacles that ‘grow’ inside the Sample cabinet. It entertains the possibility that if current sea levels rise, as we are constantly led to believe, that the Degraves street subway could become prime space for the next wave of urban biological fouling.
Aaron Cooper and Ben Tarano are currently completing a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College the Arts majoring in Sculpture and Spatial Practice. Working in collaboration they use sculpture and installation as a means to explore tensions arising between the organic and synthetic, urban and natural, aquatic and terrestrial realms.
