TCLGreen Nrụnye Nka Na-Adigide

Press Kit

Unique Properties

TCL Green (project Neoerba, meaning NewGrass) was conceived by Kevin Chu, founder of Creazione Sugo. The project all started when Warner Bros contacted him through a Chinese Consumer Electronics conglomerate, TCL, who wish to recycle its vast inventory of electronic waste into something artistic and contribute to improving our environment.
Kevin Chu, through an instantaneous moment observing the grass field where his child was playing in Roseto, decided to utilize the abstracted digital geometry of individual blades of grass as the initiation on this installation. His idea was rather than the usual approach to a traditional standalone sculpture, Neorba need to be “planted” as a modular system and can be adapted into any location with the flexibility of a Viral Art Installation. He decided to collect thousands of pieces of discarded Pcb Computer Circuit Boards collected from electronic waste as their green hue and translucency allows for an amazing transmission of light and coloration similar to plantations.
Once the initial geometrical formation was decided the entire installation is hand made with an internal hollow steel structure and each circuit board are chosen in random and gradually laminated over the structure organically without predefined patterns. Photovoltaic flood lights were integrated into each structure or totem for night-time illumination in keeping with sustainability of utilizing renewable energy provided by the sun. Finally, it is finished off with a bioluminescent paint that glows in the dark through absorption of photons from both natural and artificial light source and a specially formulated photocatalytic coating, which is used by Nasa space agency on its satellites, was applied onto each of the Grass Blade “Totems” which allows the entire installation to purify the atmosphere from Virus, Bacteria and Pollutants activated only with sunlight and moving air biomimicry from the process of photosynthesis. For this installation a total of 42 Totems were made as the more quantity there are, the more we can recycle, and the atmospheric purification effect becomes more pronounced.
A special immersive Virtual Reality Artwork was created by Kevin Chu which allows Neoerba to enter the metaverse where one can experience an alternative dimension and meaning to the installation. The Virtual Reality Artwork was in the context of mass production is engrained into our current generation, but we are now slowly migrating to a more sustainable mindset, and it reflects the dichotomy of past believes and the unknown conflict of future directions for humankind.

Dimensions & Packaging

Grass Blade Totems comes in 3 dimensions at H 2800mm x W 470mm x D 453mm | H 2200mm x W 470mm x D 453mm | H 1800mm x W 470mm x D 453mm.
Entire installation foot print is approx L 31m x W 2m x H 2.8m

Tags

sustainable, metaverse, art, recycle, nft, environmental, installation, photocatalysis, upcycle, vr

Production Technology

Material used in realization: Upcycle Computer PCB Circuit Boards, Galvanized Steel Structure, Low Voc paint, Photovoltaic LED Flood Lights, Bioluminescent Paint, Photocatalytic High Pressure Spray on Treatment.

Design Challenge

As with this specific project, as recycling so many computer boards into such a large installation, which was never been done before, we were extremely pressed for time in research and design and we needed to construct prototypes and models in less then 3 weeks in order to meet the entire project time frame.
One of the most challenging part was we needed to work on this project during August when nearly all suppliers and companies are closed for the summer vacation in Italy, we have to move the entire installation to any available space in order to work through the holidays and meet the event launch deadline of September 6th with the Discovery film crew was arriving to Abruzzo all the way from Singapore.
Since we were using so many recycle computer boards, we were also soliciting our client TCL's entire electronic waste inventory on computer boards during August with very slow logistic services sent from client's warehouse.
We also took on the insane idea, suggested by our photographer Mr Giovanni Albani Lattanzi to complete our final photographic session in a UNESCO world heritage site of Gran Sasso mountain range and we were told that we are the first ever to bring any art installation to the shooting site of Lago Pietrazoni. The logistic and timing co-ordination needs to be immaculate as we were working in conditions during October 2022, from 24C to 4C late into the evening with humidity and unknown wind and weather conditions delaying our 12 hours shooting window.

Research

The planning was first dialogues between client TCL, Discovery Channel and SUGO on how to push Art, Sustainability, Technology to the next level. How we can bridge the gap between physical objects and the metaverse with the relevant context and the audience needs to instantaneously teleported into the real and simulated space.
Once SUGO decided on the digital geometry of using grass as the metaphorical muse, the shape was streamlined to its most simplistic form in order to recall a dramatic image of The Obelisk inspired by the film A Space Odyssey 2001 by Stanley Kubrick.
TCL Green NEOERBA was fusing many elements together such as science, material/technology, philosophy, architecture, lighting into one single unity that lets the audience decides what is their chosen interpretation.
SUGO was working with a very complicated multi-dimension brief to approach this installation as it needs to be ground breaking and worthy of Discovery Channel to create the documentaries with themes that needs to be current and future proof for the times.

Inspiration

Kevin Chu, through an instantaneous moment observing the grass field where his child was playing in Roseto deli Abruzzi in Italy, decided to utilize the abstracted digital geometry of individual blades of grass as the initiation on this installation..

Project Duration

Project concept was conceived in 2022 June 22nd and was completed on 2022 September 10th on its first event opening.

Operation Flow

The Project is entirely activated by sustainable energy and does not require any operation. Our planet is the main catalyst for functioning this installation.

Patents

The project is Patent Pending

Image Credits

Photography: Giovanni Albani Lattanzi
Videography 1 Discovery Channel : Warner Bros Discovery Singapore and Greater China.
Videography 2: SUGO