For her exhibition in the City Dome at Collective, Swiss artist Vanessa Billy presented a body of recent sculptural works. Vanessa’s works consider the social and industrial exploitation of natural resources. Often combining different everyday transient materials and found objects such as vitamin pills, light bulbs water, sump oil, Vaseline or rocks, alongside traditional art materials such as bronze, glass and resin, her installations expose the complex and contradictory relationship our society, driven by innovation and scientific research, has towards the environment.

Vanessa incorporates a wide variety of forms and materials into her works, from mass-produced industrial goods at the end of their production cycle to hand modelled objects and forms cast in bronze. This combination of different everyday transient materials and found objects is central to her approach. Batteries and vitamin pills were suspended in poured resin, a smoking oil drum, and a glass and straw ladder were some of the elements that came together in Vanessa’s installation at Collective. These works expose the complex and contradictory relationship our society (driven by innovation and scientific research) has towards the environment.

Download the exhibition information here

Watch the Summerhall TV video with Siobhan Carroll, Head of Programme, here

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Supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in the United Kingdom.