In this exhibition, Micro Vs. Macro, SUBSET brings awareness to our selective blindness and the impact human actions have on the environment. They have examined several materials on a microscopic level to force a consideration with the cycle of creation and consumption. Through a presentation of microplastics, the audience is dwarfed with this imagery. The main artwork destabilizes the preconception that humans have control over what we create.

The extent of the damage is unknown, microplastics are plastic fragments that are less than 5mm in length. Trillions of shards of plastic litter the earth from the degradation of our industrial and personal usage of the material. It is so easy to forget all the instances that we discard plastic on a daily basis. Plastic was invented 112 years ago and in that short amount of time, it has become ubiquitous. Through the artworks, SUBSET underlines the risk of losing awareness of plastic altogether because of its universality.

Plastic is no longer just in nature, but it has become a part of it, percolating down to the nano-sphere. It is cheap and easy to make but nearly impossible to remove. We cannot become desensitised to how deep it leaches biodiversity and life out of the environment.

With the series Micro vs. Macro, the viewer is brought into a world that is at risk of being overlooked. Regardless of our awareness, plastic is going to choke the earth if our habits remain unchanged.

SUBSET is an artistic collective of 22 creative individuals with a variety of complementary skills, backgrounds and practices. Their work predominantly manifests in, large scale, public-artworks. with members’ collective practices encompassing visual art, design, sculpture, visual communication, art theory, film and photography, as well as curation and visual installations. Their members hold numerous Bachelor of Arts degrees in areas such as sculpture, visual communication, fine art, visual culture and film production. Each awarded from various institutes and colleges including the Institute of Art & Design (IADT), the National College of Art & Design (NCAD), Pulse Recording College (Windmill Lane Studios) and Limerick School of Art & Design (LSAD).

Their work aims to provoke public thought and support dialogue around important contemporary cultural issues through the production of high quality, prominent, accessible, impactful public-artworks.

Notable works include The Grey Area Project (2017 – ongoing), a large scale visual art project in collaboration with Inner City Helping Homeless and over 35 prominent Irish and international artists. This project sees SUBSET produce a city-wide urban art project through the commissioning and production of a suite of street-artworks, a documentary and through the curation of two major exhibitions in the Point Village Shopping Centre.

www.subset.ie