Seawrack

2025 - present

Inspired by dancing with algae on the Pacific coast and all night long at the club, Seawrack (2025-) connects the potential of algae and raving as a way to understand the pervasive plastic industry. I process kelp into “bio-polymer” textiles by pouring an agar-seaweed substance directly onto a sewn linen vest creating jelly-like wearables, or by drying the substance out into kelp-leather. In performance I hand the audience the kelp-textiles to touch, then twirl, thwack and gyrate with the kelp fronds, wafting a damp briny smell into the air, all while shouting descriptions of the rave and eco-research about seaweed’s composting ability over increasingly loud techno. The smell and texture of the seaweed, the throbbing beat, and the exhausting dancing become a meditative ritual with the plastics fused into our cellular walls while mirroring ecology’s endless capacity for change.

video and photographs documented by Max Bienstock.