Synthetic Collective

Grounded in research, the Synthetic Collective brings together artists, cultural workers, and scientists around issues relating to ecological sustainability. Central to this collaboration is a deep interest in plastic pollution. Since its foundation in 2018, the collective has adopted a horizontal organizational structure based on exchange between the fields of art and science. Following this fundamentally interdisciplinary approach, the ten members of the collective are involved in all research and creation activities, which has notably led artists and scholars Kelly Jazvac, Kirsty Robertson, Tegan Moore, Kelly Wood, and Heather Davis to participate in sampling plastic pellets from contaminated beaches, alongside geologists, chemists and biologists Patricia Corcoran, Sara Belontz, Lorena Rios Mendoza, Kathleen Hill, and Ian Arturo. In parallel, works such as the series of digital collages Great Lakes: Accumulations(2020) allow the public to visualize the scale of the plastic pollution problem in the Great Lakes region, the collective’s principal research site. They recently turned to curatorial practice when organizing the exhibition Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through (2021), presented at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. A selection of works made from plastic, drawn from museum collections and showing signs of degradation, are presented alongside works by contemporary artists that examine our relationship with the material. In addition to the installations, scientific data visualization devices transmit the Synthetic Collective’s research findings. Experimental in nature, the exhibition calls on practices inspired by institutional critique through alternative curatorial methods that address ecology and sustainability at the discursive and formal levels. In concrete terms, this stance is embodied in the collective’s refusal to repaint the walls or to use vinyl lettering, as well in the decision to present the packaging materials used to transport the artworks and other waste materials produced during installation. In continuity with its efforts, across a variety of disciplines, to raise awareness about plastic pollution, the Synthetic Collective hopes that this exhibition model and the works presented will inspire more ethical and sustainable ways of relating to materials. Translated from the French by Louise Ashcroft Tegan MoorePermeations of a Dataset (detail), installation view, The Art Museum, University of Toronto, 2021.Photo : Allison Postman © Tegan Moore Kelly JazvacSemon’s Seaman, installation view, The Art Museum, University of Toronto, 2021.Photo : Tony Hafkenshied © Kelly Jazvac Kelly WoodAccumulations #1, 2020.Photo : courtesy of the artist Kelly WoodAccumulations #2, 2020.Photo : courtesy of the artist Noémie Fortin, Synthetic CollectiveKelly Jazvac, Kelly Wood, Kirsty Robertson, Noémie Fortin, Tegan MooreKelly Jazvac, Kelly Wood, Kirsty Robertson, Noémie Fortin, Tegan MooreKelly Jazvac, Kelly Wood, Noémie Fortin

Synthetic Collective

Suggested Reading

Roni Horn
Archived Glaciers at the Library of Water

Kelly Wood

Vanessa Dion Fletcher
A Body of Work

Lynda Gaudreau