He began his project in December 2019, envisioning a floating island. The effort was a collaboration with MACA and involved high school students who joined to stimulate thought, educate, and encourage young people to reflect on plastic pollution and the peril it poses to the planet. More than three years have passed, and Olga Diego’s article remains relevant, even as environmental concerns have grown more alarming.
To date, the artist preserved and brought to the present the floating island crafted from 3,612 recycled bottles, a piece now housed at Valencia Gallery Setwhere. It opened its doors on a Friday, with Polish creator Diana Lelonek sharing a commitment to caring for nature under the banner drift.
“When the island first set sail in the gallery, it felt daring yet impressive,” the artist observed. The installation spans four meters in width and three meters in height, making a powerful impression in the space. The bottles that compose the work, kept at Las Cigarreras in Alicante, are tied with rope fashioned from Diego’s own plastics to minimize waste. That same thread connects to the ongoing expansion of the exhibition, where a knitted flag has been added. Diego continued to explore this concept and created a new piece—a flag—that represents the growing global plastic footprint.
Two captions aside, the installation continues to speak. Olga Diego notes that the project began at MACA to draw attention to a problem that remains stubbornly persistent, and she now sees the situation as more pressing than ever. She remains committed to ongoing efforts, insisting that progress requires sustained action rather than passive acceptance.
She completed twenty studies illustrating the creation process. Some drawings were not shown in Alicante, but all represent careful work—from graphic design to the melding of construction methods, drawing, and geometry. They also show a study of the triangular base that underpins the modular system for the island.
Diego does not rule out the possibility of someday finishing the other half of the sphere and potentially letting it reach the sea—an idea that was the original ambition when the piece was conceived at the Alicante Museum of Contemporary Art, though the pandemic paused that plan.
Two projects, one goal
Gallery owner Reyes Martinez brought together the Alicante-based artist with Diana Lelonek for this exhibition because both artists focus on the relationship between humans and nature, and both employ scientific thinking to realize their projects. In this collaboration, the Polish artist presents an installation that includes sounds from three glaciers, accompanied by a musical composition intended to convey silent disaster.
These works are decidedly different in form, yet fundamentally linked by shared aims and intentions, highlighting a common thread about how humanity interacts with the natural world.