Unknown Fields Division create Ming vases from toxic waste

Led By Liam Young (Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today) and Kate Davies (Liquid Factory), Unknown Fields Division is a nomadic design studio whose annual excursions, “investigate lesser-known global supply chains, to make visible the invisible systems that shape our world.”

Last summer they embarked on a project called A World Adrift, which investigated the supply chains of consumer technology devices such as mobile phones and laptops. This ended at a lake near Baotou in Inner Mongolia, the resting place for so much of our defunct technology, with a radioactive half-life of 100,000 years.

“We need to be doing more than just documenting conditions as they exist,” says Young.  “Our job is to unpick these contradictions and make us aware of them. The group collected toxic sludge from the lake and shipped it back to a workshop in London. With that sludge they created a series of Ming vases; each vase is made from the amount of toxic waste created in the production of three technology devices.

The sculptures will be exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, in What is Luxury? (25th April - 27 September), a showcase into how luxury is made and understood in a physical, conceptual and cultural capacity. In addition to the exhibition, the group has collaborated with photographer Toby Smith and developed Rare Earthenware, a documentary featuring their research.

A World Adrift was featured in Protein Journal #14’s gallery section.