Rob Hornstra, Arnold van Bruggen, Plastic Sea, Perfect Storm, 2026

What happens when a crisis catches you so unprepared that it makes you feel physically unwell and plunges you into a deep depression? You experience the loss of the world as it once was. Psychologists call this ‘ambiguous loss’: the world still exists, but something essential seems to have been taken away from you. Illegality, pollution, climate change and an economy relentlessly driven by profit and growth can, taken together, stir up a profound sense of powerlessness, of mourning for something intangible that seems to have vanished forever. Grief can trigger anger and action, but also acceptance and resignation: let the storm rage on. In this sea of plastic, modern Europe reveals itself in all its nakedness.

In southern Spain lies Europe’s largest vegetable garden: an endless sea of plastic greenhouses, visible even from space. Thanks to abundant sunshine and efficient water use, it supplies our supermarkets with low-cost fruit and vegetables. But behind this efficiency lie the exploitation of migrants, inhumane living conditions and ecological devastation. How long will Europe tolerate exploitation and ecological ruin, all in the name of low-cost produce?