#inyourface – the exhibition
2023: Watt Welten, Norderney
2022: Musikmuschel in Westerland on the island of Sylt; Theme Day: Plastic in the Environment, Berlin; ICYMARE, Bremerhaven; Ciência Viva – Pavilhão do Conhecimento, during and after the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon.
2021: Regattahaus, Kiel Schilksee; Berlin Photo Week; Green Fashion Fair, Berlin; Hier & JETZT Festival, Berlin; Corona Culture, Berlin
“In Your Face” is a media-based collective project by Ocean. Now! from Berlin. The ocean protection organization has been committed to the issue of “microplastics in cosmetics and cleaning products” for five years and is campaigning for a legal ban on the same. This has been pending for more than 10 years.
The project is based on a collaboration with the artist Swaantje Güntzel, who made her artwork Microplastics II available. It involves participants from all over the world.
Over a period of 3 months, ocean lovers collected microplastic samples that show up on “familiar faces” – symbolically in the form of a “beauty mask”. The bleeding nose represents the destructive character of microplastics. The project aims to send a clear message: It is time to finally ban microplastics in cosmetics and cleaning products. It is time for us humans to look ourselves in the eye.
“In Your Face – The Exhibition” has been shown 11 times so far (Germany, Portugal, Austria). Currently, you can view it at Watt Welten Besucherzentrum (Norderney) and at the Frauenmuseum Hittisau (Hittisau, Austria).
>> What does the ocean mean to you? <<
The ocean means mother. The ocean builds you up, makes you strong, it is connected to everything.
– Adèle Logan, founder BY ADÈLE
Plastic doesn’t belong in the ocean any more than mustard and ketchup belong in a plate of rice pudding.
– Dieter Hallervorden, Schauspieler & Theaterleiter
The ocean for me means forgiveness, healing and nourishment.
– Jeanne de Kroon, Founder of Zazi Vintage
The ocean is a big part of my childhood for me, and I hope my son can say the same thing 30 years from now.
– Johannes Strate, Musiker
The sea breathes in sorrow and breathes out freedom.
– Sven Martinek, Schauspieler
The ocean means habitat for millions of fellow creatures on our planet.
– Shai Hoffmann, activist & speaker
The ocean is the habitat of our planet, it is our home, we all come from it originally.
– Ranga Yogeshwar, Physiker & Autor
If you care about the climate, you can’t avoid the oceans. Climate protection also means ocean protection.
– Luisa Neubauer, Climate Activist
The ocean means origin for me.
– Marcella Hansch, founder Everwave Foundation
The ocean is almost everything to me.
– Uli Kunz, Fotograf, Meeresbiologe
Weightless descent into nature’s greatest paradise.
– Jens Stoetzner, Rekord-Apnoetaucher
>> how much do you know? Take the quiz <<
The Problem of Microplastics
>> The Problem of Microplastics <<
(hover over bubbles to view facts)
>> The story of #INYOURFACE <<
1. The story of In Your Face began 2016 with Swaantje Güntzels artwork Microplastics at the Playa de Montaña Bermeja in Lanzarote. Her artwork Microplastics II evolved from this intervention.
Microplastics II shows the portrait of the artist with a symbolic beauty mask made of microplastic particles and a bleeding nose.
2. In 2019, Ocean. Now! got to know Swaantje Güntzel and a collective project with participants from all over the world – #INYOURFACE – developed. Over a period of 5 months, ocean lovers collected microplastic samples combing through beaches.
3. The motivation behind #INYOURFACE is to raise awareness in public and to send a strong signal to political decision makers: it’s time to finally ban microplastics in cosmetics and cleaning products.
4. Alongside the portrait, each person answers the question “What does the ocean mean to you?”. Understanding that the ocean is not only the source of all life but also keeps us alive with every second breath we take, the project mirrors what we can realise collectively: to look ourselves in the eye, to reconnect with it and to amend our lifestyle accordingly.
The Ocean to me is the mirror of human conduct. It reflects who we really are.
Swaantje Güntzel, Artist
>> join us: your #inyourface
statement <<
- Click on the button below on your mobile phone.
- Take a picture for your story and post.
- Add the hashtag #inyourface and – if you lik – a comment on how you’d like to protect the ocean and/or your call on decision makers.
>> What you can do <<
Another way to contribute to ocean protection
THANK YOU!
I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea (…) And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.
An activity in the context of the UN Ocean Decade:
Partners:
