Berman Contemporary

Plastic Ocean

Plastic Ocean by Thirza Schaap, presented at Berman Contemporary, speaks directly to the 2026 HEAT Winter Arts Festival theme, Ctrl + Z. The exhibition transforms discarded plastic waste collected from shorelines into visually seductive sculptural compositions. At first glance, the works evoke classical still lifes or abstract colour fields. On closer inspection, they reveal fragments of consumer debris, the residue of global consumption and environmental neglect. In this way, Plastic Ocean embodies the conceptual gesture of undo. It asks: What would it mean to Ctrl + Z ecological damage? Can we reverse extractive habits? Can we re-see waste as evidence rather than refuse? Rather than proposing a literal reversal, the work performs a perceptual undoing. It slows the viewer down. It interrupts aesthetic expectation. It reframes pollution as both archive and accountability. The exhibition invites audiences into an act of conscious re-seeing, a mental and emotional undoing of detachment from environmental crisis. Importantly, while this project is not a conventional theatre production or performance piece, it aligns strongly with the festival’s emphasis on audience engagement and experiential formats. The proposed activation within the exhibition prioritises interaction over passive observation. Instead of presenting a fixed performance to be watched, it creates a facilitated, participatory encounter between artist, artwork, and audience. In this sense, it shares with performance practices a commitment to presence, immediacy, and collective experience. The audience is not positioned as spectators but as active participants in a moment of reflection and dialogue. This embodied engagement mirrors the spirit of Ctrl + Z by creating space to pause, reconsider, and consciously imagine repair. Through this interactive activation, the exhibition extends beyond display into lived experience and resonates with the festival’s commitment to dynamic, multi-genre artistic exchange.

THIRZA SCHAAP Thirza Schaap (b. 1971) is a Dutch artist living and working in Amsterdam and Cape Town. Schaap graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 1996. An accomplished sculptor and photographer, renowned for her Plastic Ocean project. In this series, she raised awareness around pollution, to try and prevent, or at least reduce, the use of plastic, by sculpting found trash and discarded objects into fanciful arrangements, which are then photographed and displayed. Schaap’s sculptural work and photography seems to play a game that asks whether these objects’ aesthetic appeal can outweigh their utilitarian dullness and, often, the danger and unforeseen consequences they represent. “I seduce the viewer with interesting shapes and a delicate color palette. When I’ve captured their attention, the images unravel.”

BERMAN CONTEMPORARY ALL WOMEN ART Berman Contemporary is a Cape Town-based gallery championing women artists through a strong curated programme of exhibitions, publications, offsite projects, and international art fairs. We build lasting careers through mentorship, rigorous curatorial development, and strategic collector and institutional placements. With a global outlook, we connect visionary practices to significant collections, museums, and critical discourse worldwide.