Science fiction fans may know the word “frack” as a cheeky way for the writers of the Battlestar Galactica TV series to swear their way around the pre-watershed censoring, but fracking is also a bit of a dirty word in the real-life scientific world of fuel extraction.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, uses a controversial high-pressure technique to crack the earth hundreds of metres below ground to create wells in which fuel such as gas and oil can flow to be collected. It works, but opponents aren’t happy with the environmental impact of what has been likened to a man-made earthquake. It’s just one of the topics being debated at Turning FACT Inside Out, an event where artists gather to examine the environment as well as other burning issues of the modern world.
Art collective HeHe have constructed an oppressive and powerful, small-scale working version of the mining process called Fracking Futures, including the tremors and spitting flames, at FACT in Liverpool, who recently hosted a celebration to the art of pop video. A host of other artists, including Steve Lambert with his challenging Capitalism Works for Me (True/False) and Katarzyna Krakowiak with sound/architecture installation Chute, will contribute to the creative think-tank which will run until 25th August.
Steve Lambert,
Capitalism Works for Me (True/False),
Installation at FACT
Steve Lambert,
Capitalism Works for Me (True/False),
Installation at FACT
MeMe Collective,
Sedimentary Timeline, 2013
Katarzyna Krakowiak,
Chute, 2013,
Installation at FACT
All other images: HeHe, Fracking Futures, 2013,
Installation at FACT, Liverpool
