Tadashi Kawamata’s Over Flow was centered around questions of global ecology and tourism. The immersive installation at MAAT’s Oval Gallery invited the viewer to experience a seascape of remains which follows an ecological catastrophe, where debris transported by the world’s seas are imagined to engulf civilisation.

Tadashi Kawamata (b. 1953) developed this project during one year of research and field work in Portugal, culminating in a workshop with artists and architects led by the architectural collective Os Espacialistas. The installation integrated both plastic residues 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 came together in a sculptural form that evoked the polluting elements aggregated by the perpetual movements of the ocean, as well as global tourism and its fatal consumption of natural resources.

Partners: Brigada do Mar, Câmara Municipal de Almada, Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa, BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts

Support: Câmara Municipal de Grândola, Câmara Municipal de Oeiras, Logoplaste, Porto da Nazaré / Docapesca - Portos e Lotas, S.A

Acknowledgements: Agrupamento 929 – Escuteiros Marítimos de Belém / Corpo Nacional de Escutas – Escutismo Católico Português; NecSport; Ocean Alive

Exhibition supported by A.T. Kearney