Anne-Katrin Spiess

New York, New York

“I firmly believe that if enough of us implement slight but substantial shifts in consumption habits, and stop using products whose harvesting or production causes environmental problems, we can have a significant impact on the health of the planet.”

Conceptual land artist Anne-Katrin Spiess is interested in spaces–both physical and psychological–and how the two relate to one another. In her artistic practice, she creates site-specific projects in remote landscapes. Her projects exist only for a few hours or days at a time before they are disassembled and the landscape returned to its original condition. Many of the materials that she uses are collected or borrowed from nature and then later left to return to their natural cycles. She carefully introduces man- or machine-made materials as subtle reminders of human civilization. Because of her close connection with nature and land, and because of the deep sense of responsibility she feels towards the planet, much of her work addresses and calls attention to environmental issues. One such work is her performance piece, Death by Plastic, seen here.

Anne-Katrin Spiess

My ongoing environmental concerns led me to address single-use plastic pollution. For decades, prosperous nations sent their plastics to China. China’s recent refusal to accept these materials is a wake-up call for all countries faced with a glut of plastics and a lack of infrastructure to process them. We need to make a significant paradigm shift and be willing to change our habits–as consumers, as product and packaging designers, and as corporations. My current project, Death by Plastic, is a gesture toward drawing attention to the proliferation of single-use plastics.

In the summer of 2019, I performed Death by Plastic for the first time in Moab, Utah. Moab is a small community with extraordinary, pristine landscapes. Tourists visit seasonally, but leave behind large quantities of refuse. I had been creating art in the area for twenty years when I discovered that only plastics #1 and #2 were being recycled and everything else was sent to landfills. I felt like I had been hit by lightning. After a sleepless night, I decided to build a clear casket where my body would lay covered by plastics #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7, which were no longer being recycled. The work was photographed on the Moab landfill, where the plastics would eventually end up.

In November of the same year, my body rested in the casket–filled with fishing nets and single-use plastics–as a gondola carried it silently across the canals of Venice, Italy. Venice is facing similar issues to Moab, but on a larger scale. Thousands of tourists visit the city daily, leaving behind tons of waste–much of which is single-use plastic bottles. In July of 2021, I performed Death by Plastic in my hometown of New York City as a funeral procession down Fifth Avenue.

Death by Plastic (Funeral Procession), New York City, 2021

Digital C-Print