TANK WORLDS

Hailey McGuire

Tank Worlds: Hamilton Harbour
Casting Nets

Two nets are cast onto the harbour, each an invitation to confront contamination associated with industrial activities in Hamilton Harbour. One net is cast overland onto buildings; the other is cast into the harbour. Each acts as a scaffold for new, productive ecologies. A series of intricate circular nets, akin to woven fish traps, attract the growth of algae with their fibrous threads. The algae remediates contamination associated with wastewater overflow onto the site. They act as a filter between active plumes of sewage outflow and the rest of the Harbour, absorbing toxins before they reach the rest of the harbour. The second net is a shroud for the existing buildings on the brownfield site; it operates at the scale of land art. This intervention does not disturb, subtract, or modify the existing structure, but rather envelops it with an array of intricate cables that train the growth of climbing, bioremediative plants. This net increases biomass on the site, acting as a catalyst to future ecological productivity. Both interventions are designed to scale up to other areas of the site and aim to draw the community to the ghosts of the former steel factories and the Harbour, now intricately shrouded.