The Bartlett
Summer Show 2023
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The Plastic Age: Ligaments of the Lost Creature

Project details

Programme
Unit UG5
Year 3
Award
  • First Class Honours

'The Plastic Age: Ligaments of the Lost Creature' investigates the creation, life, and afterlife of the Lost Creature of Hastings Coastline, a museum housing a suspended collection of fossils found by local clubs. Artificial layers beneath our feet bear witness to collective histories, forming a creature-like museum that exhibits forgotten stories. The project explores thermoplastics as a ligament to hold together a web of limestone-cast fossils, merging architecture and exhibition. The museum sits within a dig site, allowing for growth and exploration. As the collection expands, the Lost Creature grows until it becomes a slowly eroding ruin, leaving behind the plastic structural netting. This marks the start of the Anthropocene, where human activities dominate the planet.

Short Section: Palaeontological Site and Shed

The building can be thought of as a palaeontological site, with limestone-casted fragments forming The Creature's bestial shape, suspended within a thermoplastic net.

Ground Floor Plan: Palaeontological Site

The building can be thought of as a palaeontological site, with limestone-cast fragments forming The Creature's bestial shape, suspended within a thermoplastic net.

Worms Eye View

Worm’s eye view of the hanging system. The Creature's bestial shape is suspended within a thermoplastic net and hung on the shed's tensile structure.

Maquette: The Creature

Early conceptual model of the Creature. The Creature evolves into a cautionary ecological tale that grows and transitions over many years.

Drawing Responding to 'Fossils of South Downs' (Gideon Mantell)

Each student started with an image or drawing from the selection provided by the brief. Some of the drawings had strong links to Hastings, our site, others were more universal.

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The Bartlett
Summer Show 2023
23 June – 8 July 2023
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