Ripple
Ripple is a new site-specific sculpture by artist Katharina Fitz that can be spotted as you enter Broadway.
Drawing inspiration from the intricate beauty of a wild bee’s nest, Ripple is fixed along a branch of the majestic silver birch tree on our outdoor terrace.
The sculpture represents the first public artwork outcome of a collaboration between Broadway’s Near Now and Future Makers, a creative studio in Nottingham specialising in plastic recycling. Ripple is made using equipment at Future Makers’ Waste Plastic Studio and crafted from a unique hybrid material comprising recycled plastic and agricultural waste. Katharina aimed to push and stress the material’s properties until reaching an imperfect and organic aesthetic.
Katharina Fitz has also designed a sculptural collection point which will be installed at Broadway in Summer 2024. An accompanying waste plastic collection campaign will launch later in the year.
These projects aim to create a conversation about waste plastic, exploring its value as a resource that can be collected and repurposed to make meaningful, desirable arts and design projects.
Here at Broadway, we have an ambitious environmental policy and action plan in order to reduce our impact on the environment. Partnering with positive initiatives that are driving change can only help and drive our personal mission to reduce landfill waste. Our hope is that these projects will drive a wider conversation about how approaches to recycling can be improved on a local and global scale, and inspire visitors to Broadway to look into the plastic they use and throw away.
About the artist
Katharina Fitz mainly works in the field of sculpture and installation, often in reference to industrial processes and architecture.
The physical interaction between artist and sculptural form is notably present in her practice. Turning, pushing, pulling, ramming, peeling and dragging form part of her visual vocabulary, revealing the force and expressive qualities of materials.
She questions the hierarchy and value of objects in a mass-produced, slick, and highly mechanised world, embracing imperfection, the residual and its dusty tones. Jigs and props of making are usually seen as by-products and discarded, whereas Fitz presents them as objects in their own right, drawing the viewer into an exploration of the work. Her sculptures mediate between studio and gallery atmosphere, sharing glimpses of the behind the scenes of construction.
Her work explores the vision and understanding of the world that surrounds us, offering a new reading of how it could be animated, changed, or extended into something else.
Her photographic work looks at issues surrounding the changes, phenomena, and structures that we find within the city and how they affect our coexistence within urban space.
Repurposing Waste Plastic
This project is supported by Broadway's Near Now Fellowship using public funding by Arts Council England. It is co-produced by Future Makers, Nottingham’s new hub for entrepreneurial artists, designers and makers, as part of our ongoing collaborative project, Repurposing Waste Plastic.
Using equipment installed at Future Makers, a new studio facility has been built to support creatives to turn plastic waste into valuable, artistic assets. Working in residency, Katharina spent time testing the tools and materials, working with us to develop a model for supporting artists/designers to make artworks, products and desirable objects from plastic waste.