ryo yamada’s site-specific timber installation represents future sea level

RYO YAMADA’S ART INSTALLATION REFLECTS LONG-TERM CLIMATE IMPACT

 

Ryo Yamada’s Zero Meter Above Sea Level 20000 is a site-specific installation situated in the War Memorial Gallery at Summerhall Arts, Edinburgh. The work models the projected sea level in this specific location 19,980 years into the future, assuming a continued trajectory of global sea-level rise.

 

The installation is based on the current elevation of Summerhall, approximately 76 meters above present sea level. With ongoing climate-induced sea-level rise, currently estimated at approximately 0.5 meters globally over the next century, the piece extrapolates this trend to visualize a time when the sea may reach the current elevation of the gallery site.

all images courtesy of Ryo Yamada

 

 

Zero Meter Above Sea Level 20000 uses timber and non-woven fiber

 

Constructed over 33 days, the installation occupies a footprint of 4.2 meters by 4.2 meters within the 7-meter-wide by 6-meter-deep gallery. The ceiling height of the work is set at 2.17 meters, referencing a calculated sea-level height relative to the gallery floor, which itself sits 1.35 meters above the base elevation point of 76 meters.

 

Designer Ryo Yamada’s installation uses slender 21mm x 21mm timber elements, each manually cut by the artist. Despite their fine dimensions, the frame is structurally stabilized through precise interconnections, forming a unified, monolithic volume. The skeletal timber structure supports a surface of non-woven fiber, which diffuses light to evoke the visual and atmospheric quality of a future sea surface.

ryo yamada's site-specific timber installation visualizes future sea level at summerhall arts
projected sea level 19,980 years from now, modeled in timber and light

ryo yamada's site-specific timber installation visualizes future sea level at summerhall arts
Zero Meter Above Sea Level 20000 situates the future sea at gallery height

ryo yamada's site-specific timber installation visualizes future sea level at summerhall arts
timber frame marks a speculative ocean surface in central Edinburgh

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