Trashtopus
Light art trash installation in Biodome
Trashtopus
Light art trash installation in Biodome
In a nutshell
The Biodome, which until now had not housed a single living creature, was squatted by the creative team behind the Inota Festival for three weeks to showcase the almost-complete-but-still-requiring-billions building within the framework of a light art festival. They gave us one of the most prominent positions, the glass ceiling of the walkway leading over the shark tank containing 5 million liters of water! We made it together with Kele Juci, it was insane…
Category:
Client:
Light Dome – Centrum Production & COLLOC Productions
Designed:
2024
Built:
2024
Creators:
- Alvégi Lóci
- Kele Juci
- Kálmán Mao Mátyás
Partners:
- Urbán Márton – electrical work
- Nagy Andris – light programming
Photos:
- Bódis Krisztián
- Ránki Dániel
- Varga Jennifer
- Soós Bertalan
- Réthey-Prikkel Tamás
Publications:
Trashtopus
The Biodome, which until now had not housed a single living creature, was squatted by the creative team behind the Inota Festival for three weeks to showcase the almost-complete-but-still-requiring-billions building within the framework of a light art festival. They gave us one of the most prominent positions, the glass ceiling of the walkway leading over the shark tank containing 5 million liters of water! We made it together with Kele Juci, it was insane…
Category:
Client:
Light Dome – Centrum Production & COLLOC Productions
Designed:
2024
Built:
2024
Photos:
- Bódis Krisztián
- Ránki Dániel
- Varga Jennifer
- Soós Bertalan
- Réthey-Prikkel Tamás
Creators:
- Alvégi Lóci
- Kele Juci
- Kálmán Mao Mátyás
Partners:
- Urbán Márton – electrical work
- Nagy Andris – light programming
Publications:
Concept
The main idea behind the Light Dome was to showcase animals and plants. From the start, we wanted to add to this with an installation made out of trash, highlighting the environmental destruction that almost boringly infiltrates our lives, and the fact that we’re in a lifeless zoo building.
AI
We generated the initial ideas with Midjourney, which is a great tool for shaping early concepts. After creating a plastic bag person, a trash mermaid, screens and CD coral flowers, we found the solution: an octopus! Or rather, a trashtopus…
Once upon a pile of waste,
Lost, it couldn’t find its place,
Humans tossed it to the sea’s embrace,
How could they commit such a disgrace?
It swayed and swirled, left to right,
Entangled in a clutter, out of sight.
Yet it shaped itself with grace,
With clever head and arms to embrace.
Only awaited, the poor soul,
For companionship to make him whole,
For thousands of years, a vast scroll,
As decay of plastic takes its toll…
Kele Juci
Upcycling
A key part of the design idea was to make everything out of trash whenever possible. Except for the chicken wire holding the whole structure together and the 60 meters of neon LED tube, that’s exactly what we did!
- After some experimentation, the ‘filling’ turned out to be mineral water bottles. Luckily, someone had just dumped several cubic meters of Mizsei bottles at the residential waste yard in Újbuda during those days 🙂
- The suction cups were made from CDs, and we had enough of them for the octopus—300 in total—just from our own household.
- Finally, the cute googly eyes of our octopus came from the covers of our broken solar garden lights.
Light Art
The silicone-encased LED tubes running along the legs and winding through the head operate on four separately programmable strands. We created a bead-like cover for each one, giving the light a much fuller body that almost fills the entire octopus. Marci Urbán helped with the electrical work, Andris Nagy with the light programming, and Mao Mátyás Kálmán assisted in resolving our marital design disputes!
Deep dive
The place was pretty SPECIAL: it was inside the biodome’s big shark tank, particularly on top of the underwater glass (acrylic) walkway. The zoo divers were a huge help when it came to releasing the installation into the water. They were incredibly enthusiastic and tirelessly arranged the 6(!) legs of our trashtopus, although they did have some professional qualms about it…
A great video report
Practically the entire Hungarian press covered the event, which on the second day was overshadowed by the stolen laser floor scandal… In NLC’s report, Juci and I were able to share what inspired us, our thoughts on the venue, and more. It’ll be great as a final word: